This edition © 2018 by Andrews McMeel Publishing. All rights reserved. No part
of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without
written permission except in the case of reprints in the context of reviews.
Published in French under the title Un Chaton Qui Sest Perdu dans le Nether ©
2017 by 404 éditions, an imprint of Édi8, Paris, France Text © 2015 by Cube
Kid, Illustration © 2016 by Vladimir “ZloyXP” Subbotin
Minecraft is a Notch Development AB registered trademark. This book is a work
of fiction and not an official Minecraft product, nor approved by or associated
with Mojang. The other names, characters, places, and plots are either
imagined by the author or used fictitiously.
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In memory of Lola Salines (19862015),
founder of 404 éditions and editor of this series,
who lost her life in the November 2015 attacks on Paris.
Thank you for believing in me.
—Cube Kid
Eeebs was a naughty little kitten. Very
naughty, in fact. He never listened to his mother.
She always told him:Dont go too far into the forest, Son.
It’s dangerous. And if you ever see a purple light …
run away. Run as fast as you can.”
But Eeebs loved exploring the woods. He didn’t think the
forest was dangerous at all. No, it was an
interesting place. Interesting and mysterious.
He went there at least once a week—like today—along with
his closest friends, Tufty and Meowz. The three of them
had found a new meadow to play in. The meadow was filled
with all kinds of beautiful flowers. They were
racing to see who could pick the most.
Eeebs watched Meowz and Tufty fight over a lovely blue
orchid. At last, Meowz tripped Tufty, who went
tumbling into the grass. Then, she hurried to pick the
orchid before he could get back up.
Hey!Tufty hissed. Not fair!
Well, you never said no tripping,” she said.
Tufty only flattened his ears and glared at her.
She presented her colorful collection, fanned out
like a rainbow. Look at all these owers,” she said, beaming
like the square sun. I guess that means I win, huh?
Whatever,said Tufty. He threw his clump of dandelions
onto the ground. “It was a stupid game, anyway.”
I agree,” said Eeebs. I’m bored. Maybe we should
just head back?
You can’t be serious,said Meowz.
Tufty stepped forward. We’re not gonna get caught again,
okay?
I know,” said Eeebs. But
Look,” said Tufty. The only reason our parents don’t
want us playing here is because they’re jealous. They
can’t stand us kittens having so much fun.
Hes right,” said Meowz.I mean, have you ever seen
any zombies around here? The truth is they just
cooked up that
story to keep us closer to home. Easier to make us do
chores that way.”
Eeebs sighed. Maybe they were right. And anyway, the
forest really was the best place to play in. There were so
many mysteries just waiting to be discovered.
Fine,he said. How about we go play some hide-
and-seek?The other two patted him on the back.
Now you’re talking!”
Yeah! That’s the Eeebs I know!”
But Eeebs had no idea how much this suggestion
was going to aect him. He could have seen those dark rain
clouds in the distance as a sign of things to come. Or
the chilly breeze that blew through the meadow just then …
He didn’t, though. Eeebs was just thinking about how
fun this day was going to be. A day of playing and
exploring. And misbehaving.
The three kittens began their new game.
I think you should go rst,” Tufty said.
Why me?Eeebs asked.
Because this was your idea, silly.”
Eeebs nodded. He didn’t mind. He liked being it way more
than he liked hiding. And he knew the real reason why
Tufty wanted to hide: he liked sitting around, doing nothing.
He was a bit out of shape and already out of breath after all
of that ower collecting.
As Tufty lumbered off into the bushes, Meowz smirked at
Eeebs.
I almost feel sorry for you,” she purred.I know the
ultimate hiding spot. You’re gonna be searching
forever.
Eeebs icked his tail. “I like a challenge.
A real challenge. He wasnt going to be
disappointed…
He waited for Meowz to scamper off before starting to
count.
He reached twenty, called out, and began the hunt. Eeebs
bounded through the hills, through the trees. He peeked in
every crevice, every clump of tall grass. He raced up and
down all the nearby valleys.
But he never found them, not even Tufty, who was
normally easy to nd. Were they hiding together?
Yes,
Eeebs thought.
Meowz must have felt sorry for him
and taken him into her fantastic hiding spot.
He searched and searched to no avail. Perhaps twenty
minutes passed, then thirty. The rst drop of rain hit
Eeebs square on the nose. It started pouring soon
after.
Grandpa said it was just going to sprinkle,
he thought.
This
is some sprinkle! At this rate, I’ll need a boat!
What
happened next sent a shiver down his spine. He walked
through some tall ferns and found himself standing at the
edge of a mountainous biome.
I’m
. . .
on the other side of the forest.
He had never been this far away from home before. He
was so focused on finding them that he hadn’t paid
attention to his surroundings. He was lost.
Hey! he called out. I give up! Guys?”
His thin voice was drowned out by the torrential rain.
Even if his friends were nearby, they wouldn’t have been
able to hear him. And they weren’t nearby. Eeebs was
sure of that. They were smart. They never would
have gone this far.
I’m smart too,
Eeebs thought.
I’ll figure something out. I
can just follow the edge of the forest. Yeah, as long as I stick
to the edge, I’ll end up home on the other side. Right?
He paused.
But what about Tufty and Meowz? Are they
looking for me right now? Or are they still waiting for me? I
can’t just leave them. What should I do?
The rain grew heavier. Eeebs began shivering.
He decided to go back into the forest and look for them. It
was the right thing to do. With a sinking feeling
in his heart, he turned back to the mountains one last time.
Aash of lightning suddenly lit up the gray expanse,
revealingwolves.
They were moving slowly toward him. His heart sank
even deeper. If he had seen them, they must’ve
seen him, too. Then he heard a howl.
His heart was no longer sinking. It was pounding
wildly, jumping into his throat.
So he started running. He ran fast, very fast. Eeebs had
always been good at running, but he’d never run faster
in his life. Trees blurred past. Blind panic set in. He
had no idea where he was going and didn’t care, as long
as it was away from those howls and snarls. Yet no
matter how fast he went, the sounds stayed behind him.
Wolves could run fast, too.
Very fast.
Eeebs dashed into a thicket. Cries echoed through the
trees. He could hear the wolves snuffling, sniffing,
searching for his scent. That was when he noticed a
purple glow coming from farther in the thicket. He
turned away and crept closer to the light.
To a kitten like him, it looked like a screen of
violet water …
oating in the air … framed in black stone. For a
moment, he forgot about the wolves completely. He
didn’t understand what he was looking at. He had never
seen anything like this before. Well, the humans made
things that resembled it calleddoors, but this was
something different. Whatever it was, it was very
old. It seemed as if the forest had grown up around the
strange object.
Was this the purple light his mother had warned
him of? It didn’t seem that dangerous. The light
glowed in a calm way. Gentle, even. For some reason,
Eeebs felt he should approach it. It was almost as if the
doorway was calling to him, inviting him to come closer.
And why shouldn’t he? By now, those mangy mutts
were just outside the thicket. Anything was better than
facing them. And the light was so warm. Warmer than
any sunlight. Warmer than the furnace he had slept on that
time he snuck into a farmers house. As Eeebs drew closer,
the heat washed over him, removing the rain’s
damp chill.
Then, three wolves burst through the
undergrowth.
They stopped upon noticing the light. Their snarls
turned to whimpers, soft whines. After some
hesitation, they began growling again, their red eyes xed
on Eeebs as they slunk slowly forward. He was an
easy dinner, after all. Those wolves must’ve seen far
worse than a violet glow.
Eeebs backed up, right next to the light. Heat waves
blurred his vision. He felt the light behind him,
pulling him closer. He thought about his
friends. He hoped they’d make it back safely. He was
sure they would. Meowz always knew how to nd her
way home.
That was his last thought before
diving into the screen of light.
His vision became blurry, and suddenly he saw only
darkness.
Eeebs would never be a normal cat again.
His days of climbing trees and swatting at
butterflies were over. Stories would spread among the
villages, stories of a strange kitten with blue fur and
violet eyes.
He hadn’t listened to his mom.
He’d ventured into the Nether.
Eeebs felt nothing for several seconds. Nothing except
his pounding heart. Bit by bit, the darkness gave
way to a deep red expanse. It was like an
enormous cave. Eeebs couldn’t see the sky anymore,
and everything was gloomy. Pillars of
twisted stone surrounded him. Hed never seen anything
like it. Far away, bright orange streams owed down
into a sea of the same color.
He recognized this orange stuff. There was a pool of
it in the plains not too far from his home. It was very hot,
like liquid fire. On cold days, the kittens sometimes
went near that pool to warm up. Of course, his mother had
scolded him for hours after nding him there.
That must be why it’s so warm here,
Eeebs thought. He
turned around, back to the violet screen. He had moved
a great distance by crossing it. Even if he didn’t know
how, he was certain of this. So that meant he could head
back at any time. But those ea scratchers were
probably still waiting for him. If he went back through now,
they would tear him to shreds.
No,
he thought.
I’ll stay for now. I’m safe here. I only need
to wait for a while, and …
Just then, a single wolf emerged from the
portal. It was very close. Eeebs could smell its rotten
breath and the musky scent of its damp fur. At first he only
stared into the wolfs red eyes, and it stared back.
Neither of them moved. Total silence. Then its
confusion wore off. Jagged fangs and a low growl
shook the kitten into action.
That action, of course, was bolting across the dark
red stones.
He must be really hungry,
Eeebs thought as he jumped
across a shallow chasm.
Why follow me here? Why couldn’t
he have just forgotten about me and gone after a rabbit?
He
zoomed around a column of glowing yellow rock.
Rabbits
taste better, don’t they?
Eeebs’s path soon came to an end. He skidded to a halt
on a vast ledge. On each side was a dizzying drop. He
wasn’t afraid of heights, obviously. He was a cat. From
countless days of tumbling and tussling in the forest, falling
from the tallest trees, he could survive any drop.
He always fell feetrst, but landing on his feet in an
ocean of lava wouldn’t do much good.… And that was all
he could see down there.
A ery orange sea.
The wolf scrambled onto the ledge and stopped,
knowing it had cornered its prey. Eeebs backed
up against the edge of the abyss. His future seemed
grim. Burned? Or eaten? If he died now, though, he
couldn’t explore this place. And it had to be
explored! To a curious little fuzzball like him, it
was the most fascinating place he had ever seen.
Forget the forest. Forget the swamp and the ravine. This
world would become their new playground. Still, he
had to deal with this tail-chaser, first.…
Suddenly, he remembered something that Tufty had
taught him. When chasing prey, a wolf could get pretty
careless. The hound surged forward, and Eeebs waited
for the right moment. Then he dashed to the side with
unnatural speed—even for a cat. The wolf’s fangs chomped
down on thin air. That was also the only thing supporting
it now: thin air. The wolf had leapt right off the
cliff. It yelped and turned as it fell, disappearing
over the edge. When Eeebs approached and looked down
into the lava far below, there was nothing.
Poor wolf,
he
thought. Sadness washed over him. He had only wanted
to get away.
Which reminded him: How had he moved so fast?
He realized he was trembling. His heart was beating
furiously, and he was suddenly exhausted. Eeebs
moved away from the edge and sank down onto the ground
with a sigh. Only an hour ago, he was gathering flowers.
And now …
What rotten luck,
he thought.
This is the worst day of my
life.
An icy chill danced up and down his back.
And it’s not
over yet. I still have to find my way home.
That portal would be easy to spot, of course, but it
wasn’t in sight. Eeebs had run fast, for a long time, and
lost his sense of direction. All of a sudden this new world
seemed much, much larger and much more
ominous. Despite the waves of heat, he couldn’t help
but feel a little cold. He curled up into a little ball, pulled
his paws in, and wrapped his tail around him.
What should I do? I’m trapped in this gigantic cavern, and
I have no idea where to go. But … I’m smart. Right? I’ll
figure something out. Right?
The kitten looked around with big, fearful eyes, eyes
that shimmered like pools of deep green water.
What will I do now ?
What will I do now?
While Eeebs trembled in fear, he started to hear
mysterious noises. They seemed far away. In the
shadows.
He could hear piglike grunts, horrible slithering
noises, and something that almost sounded like crying.
With each new sound, his eyes grew wider and wider. He
shrank back against the side of a small cliff, his back
arched.
Whatever I do,
thought Eeebs,
I can’t panic anymore. I’ll
only get more lost. I have to think back, retrace my steps.
That’s my only way out.
Suddenly, the crying seemed very close. He slowly
turned his head, afraid of what he might see. That was
when he noticed it: a kind of small white cloud,
oating in the air. Floating directly toward him.
No, it wasn’t a cloud. It had a face! Whatever it was,
it looked very sad. It really was crying. A few light
blue tears were streaming down its cheeks.
The ghostlike creature shrieked when it noticed the
kitten. Eeebs sprang back, tail straight up and fur raised,
as if electrified. Leave me alone! he hissed.
The creature paused and gazed down at itself.Do I really
look so terrifying? The creature sniffled. I must. Even
this poor little magma cube can’t stand the sight of a
monster like me.
It started crying again—fountains of sparkling blue
tears, this time.
Magma cube?Eeebs peered cautiously at the
bizarre creature.I’m a kitten.
A … kitten? Its closed eyes shifted with suspicion,
ever so slightly. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a kitten before.
You must have come from a nether fortress, yes?
A forest, actually.
I don’t quite understand.Another sniffle.
New tears formed in the corners of its eyes. Oh, that’s why
I don’t have any friends! I never understand anything
about anything!
Eeebs stepped forward. His curiosity had taken hold. He
had so many questions. Besides, it didn’t seem like this
thing had any intention of eating him.
Why are you crying? It’s a little strange, isn’t it? I
thought ghosts liked to scare people.
Ghost?” The white being floated down to the kitten’s
level. Im a ghast. And I’m not strange!
Every ghast is sad about something. Some of us
cry because there are no owers here. Others, because it’s
too hot …”
Well, why are you sad?
The ghast turned away.Because I I have no
friends. My whole life, that’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
The puzzled kitten xed his eyes on the ghast. Surely,
this was the most interesting creature he had ever
met. Why couldn’t he have found that portal sooner?
I’ll be your friend,Eeebs said.
What? OhI get it. A joke, yes?
Not at all,Eeebs said. To be honest, I don’t
have any friends either. At least, not here …
The ghast turned back to face him.Really? You
mean it?
Of course! Why wouldn’t I? I’ll introduce you to my
other friends back home, too.”
The ghast spun around in midair.How can this be? Am
I dreaming?
I doubt it,said Eeebs, glancing again at this strange new
world. Dreams are never this crazy.
The ghast nodded. He even smiled.
Although neither of them had any idea, this was a
special moment. It was the rst time in the
history of Minecraftia that a ghast had
experienced happiness. Their friendship would be
documented in books and discussed by scholars and
sages for generations to come.
The ghast
(whose name was Clyde)
oated near a chunk of
glowing yellow stone.This is glowstone, he said. “It
lights up areas that don’t have any lava.
Lava,said Eeebs. “That’s the orange stuff, right?
Correct.
For the past hour or two, the ghast had explained his
world to Eeebs. A guided tour of the Nether. The kitten
absorbed all of this information, from the zombie pigmen
to the blazes that soared above their heads.
I wonder if I could bring some glowstone back home with
me,” said Eeebs. It’s pretty. I think my friend—”
Ornk-ornk.A zombie pigman bumped into
him with a grunt. Eeebs gasped and darted behind the
ghast.
Don’t worry,” said Clyde.He won’t hurt you,
remember?”
Right.”
The undead pigman stared at the strange companions
before wandering away. Clyde went back to the tour. Of
course, the kitten’s curiosity seemed innite. Every
time the ghast answered one of Eeebss questions, the kitten
asked another.
Why is there so much lava?
Why are zombie pigmen zombies?
Is there such a thing as a normal
pigman?
Only stu like that. But those endless questions never
annoyed Clyde. The kitten could have gone on forever,
and he wouldn’t have cared. For the rst time in his life, the
ghast was helping someone. He was making a dierence.
He had a real friend.
At some point, a chorus of grunts and shouts became
audible. Far away, across the lava lake, an army of creatures
had gathered: zombie pigmen, magma cubes, blazes, wither
skeletons—even an enderman.
Wow! said Eeebs.I’ve never seen so many
monsters before! What are they doing?
Causing trouble,said the ghast. You see that tall
one? The one with the purple eyes?
Eeebs nodded.That’s an enderman, right? I’ve seen
one before.
Well, endermen never come here, said the ghast.
Except for him. His name is EnderStar.
So why is he here?
From what I understand, he was exiled from his
homeworld. Even the other endermen grew tired of his
crazy ideas.
The kitten’s ears perked up.
Wow. This is way better than
playing hide-and-seek, he thought. An army of monsters! An
enderman who got kicked out of his own world! What next?
Can we get closer?
Clyde paused. “I’m not so sure that would be such a good
idea, Eeebs.
Why not? Don’t you want to hear what they’re
talking about?
Well, all right. But don’t let them see you, okay? They
won’t care about me, but if they notice you . . .
Eeebs nodded.How about we hide on that ledge
over there?
With that, the unlikely duo snuck closer, up a hill that
overlooked the army. Eeebs peeked out from behind a
single block of netherrack.
Clyde oated nearby. The monsters below could no
doubt see him, but none of them paid any attention. He
was a monster, after all.
Beyond that, everyone was too busy listening to
EnderStar’s speech. All eyes were focused upon that
enderman, who stood in the middle of the crowd.
We must take back what is rightfully ours! he
shouted, before pacing back and forth. He waved a st
in the air. We will crush them all!
Rarg! A zombie pigman raised his golden sword.
Crush dem awl!
The other monsters joined in. The air erupted into an
angry chant.
Crush dem arl!
Crush dem awl!
Crush dem ull!
The monsters fell silent when EnderStar waved a hand.
There’s a portal not too far from here,he rumbled.
Our rst attack will commence from there. This is a
practice run, nothing more. Once you see how easily
their town crumbles, you will understand the
speed with which we can reclaim our world!
A huge wither skeleton stepped forward and cut the
air with his massive sword. Blah, blah, blah! Talk
boring! When me get to chop things?
Another zombie pigman raised his head and screamed.
Urggrgagrrgr! Me want smash!
Rargragr!One of the blazes trembled with rage.
Gragragagzzzt!
EnderStar chuckled—a slow, smoldering sound
that echoed across the Nether. Yes!he boomed. “That’s
the spirit! Follow me, my brothers! Let us show them
our might! Let them bow before us!”
A chorus of shouts shattered the air. The army took off
at once, slithering and staggering across the dark red
ground. Their cries faded bit by bit.
I don’t understand, said Eeebs. “What’s going on?
They’re attacking? Attacking who?
Clyde looked away. “Well, um …
Tell me!Eeebs shouted.I’m your friend, aren’t
I?
I … I’m afraid they’re on their way to your world.
No,
Eeebs thought, blood freezing in his veins.
No way.
Why would those monsters want to live there? Don’t they
like this place?
Another frightening question spawned in
a dark area of his mind.
Wait,” he said. He mentioned a portal. Was he talking
about the thing I came through?
Most likely,said Clyde.
So, they’re attacking a city nearby?
A human city. Your kind will be safe.”
But what if they burn everything?Eeebs suddenly felt
weak. His head spun. He stumbled.I have to get
back! I have to warn them!
Clyde sighed. “It’s dangerous, Eeebs. Your mother
would want you to be safe. You know that.
Eeebs leapt forward, his eyes lled with anger.
What if it was your family, huh? Would you just sit
here? You want me to
As his voice trailed off, Eeebs collapsed. He felt so
weak, drained, helpless. His limbs were like jelly.
What was happening to him?
Clyde zoomed down. Hey! Eeebs! What’s wrong?
I … don’t know. It’s like I’m …
Climb onto me,said the ghast. “I know someone who
might be able to help.”
I … can’t.
If you want to help your family and friends, you
will.
Eeebs took a deep breath. An image of his mother
ashed through his mind. And Tufty. Meowz. All of them.
With the last of his strength, he pushed himself up
and climbed up onto the ghast.
Seconds later,
everything went black.
She hovered over a brewing stand, deep in
concentration. With one bottle of water and one
nether wart, she created an Awkward Potion.
Blub, blub, blub. The potion burbled to life on the stand.
After adding a dollop of magma cream, she made a
Potion of Fire Resistance.
Of course, Eldra didn’t stop there. It would take only a
pinch of redstone dust to increase the potion’s
duration from three minutes to eight. She did just that,
carefully measuring the amount. More bubbles and smoke
this time—even a little flash ofre. But the extra effort
was worth it.
That will do nicely,
she thought.
Now I can go hunting for
more blaze powder in the fortress nearby. Those silly blazes
won’t lay a spark on me. Afterward, I could even take a lava
bath.
The witch giggled to herself.
Just for fun.
Then she frowned.
But I shouldn’t go without at least one
Potion of Regeneration. Who knows what else I might run
into?
She opened up her ingredient chest and rummaged
around. Spider eyespuerfishblaze powder
no, this
won’t do at all,
she thought.
Now, where did I put that ghast
tear?
Sometimes, when a ghast cries, one of its tears will
harden and crystallize; this is an essential
ingredient to make a Potion of Regeneration.
Unfortunately, this is a rare event, so such tears are
highly prized by witches like Eldra.
And she was totally out.
By some fabulous twist of fate, however, the answer to
her problem arrived right at her iron door.
Clang, clang!
Who is it?the witch called out, still searching through
her storage container.
Me. Who else?
Odd,
she thought.
Clyde sounds less drooping than usual.
In her excitement, Eldra whirled around, zoomed over
to the door, and peered through the window. Sure
enough, it was him. Was that the hint of a smile on
his face? He almost looked happy. The witch
blinked, as if she had just seen a flying cow.
She hit the button to open the door then stepped
outside.You couldn’t have come at a better time,she
said. I need to make a—
Listen, I really need your help,Clyde gushed.
Eldra sighed. Oh, how many times must we go over this,
Clyde? Let’s stick to our original deal. After you’ve given
me a thousand of your tears, I will be your
friend. You only have eight hundred and eighty-
eight tears to go! See? You’re almost there.
What the witch had done was indeed a little cruel. The
ghast was so desperate to make a friend that he’d agreed
one year ago to give Eldra one thousand of his
crystalized tears. In return, she would officially be his
friend. But not really. Not in her heart. How could she
befriend a monster like that?
On the other hand, was it really so bad to trick the
ghast like this? It was nicer than killing him. Since
their tears were so valued, ghasts were close to
becoming an endangered species. So the witch wasn’t
completely bad. Especially compared to the likes of
EnderStar.
Its not about that,” said Clyde.It’s about my
friend.
Eldra burst out laughing.You? She giggled again
at the thought. Have a friend?
As unbelievable as it may seem, yes. And he’s
hurt. Or sick. I don’t know.”
Where is he?”
The ghast touched down on the ground. Right here.
The witch approached. She laughed again upon
seeing the unconscious kitten resting on top of him.
I won’t even ask how you two met, she said. And what
exactly is wrong with—
She froze. Her eyes grew wide all of a sudden. It
can’t be! This kitten … has the mark!
Mark? What mark?
Eldra shook her head. Oh, you foolish ghast! Why
didn’t you bring him to me sooner? Hurry! Give him to me!
There’s no time to waste!
She cradled the limp kitten in her arms then dashed
inside her hut.
Clyde oated over to the window and watched Eldra set
the kitten down on her blue wool mattress. The witch
performed a series of gestures over his motionless
body.
That was when he noticed Eeebs’s size. He had grown
slightly—his claws, too. His fur now had a blue
sheen. Was he changing? Why? Was that normal?
Did kittens really grow so fast?
It must have something to do with his illness,the
ghast sighed. He felt so helpless. He could only oat by
the window while the witch performed her magic.
Eeebs will be okay,
he thought.
She’ll know what to do. I
don’t know what happened to my friend, but she’ll know
what to do.
Eeebs slowly opened his eyes.
He was lying on a soft surface. He had slept on something
like this a while ago: the farmer’s house. Eeebs liked
houses. Real houses, anyway. There were so many
comfortable things to sleep on in a real house. Stoves.
Beds. Carpets. Much better than the hollowed-out log
that served as his home.
No, he was wrong. How could he think something like
that? His home was a real house, too. He remembered
the smell of salmon, a smell you’d never nd in a house like
the farmer’s—and suddenly, he thought of his
mother, of his friends. His home.
He had to get back. Had to warn them. Save
them.
Eeebs sprang up. He was in a stone hut made of … he
couldn’t remember the word. He tried to recall what Clyde
had taught him. Netherrock? Netherstone? No, quartz.
Nether quartz. That was it. Where was Clyde,
anyway?
Just then, he heard a voice coming from somewhere
outside. A woman’s voice.
Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m delighted to
see you crying again,” the woman said.What would I
do without your tears? Only eight hundred and
eighty-seven left, by the way.”
I just hope he’ll be okay.
The kitten’s ears perked up.
Clyde?
Eeebs leapt o the bed and through the window. The ghast
was just outside, facing a strange woman he had never
seen before. Both turned to face him.
No way!said Clyde. You’re already awake!
Nearly.Eeebs rubbed his face with his paws. “So
what happened?
Something extraordinary,said the witch.
The kitten gave her a confused look. And who are you?
This is Eldra,said Clyde.She’s a witch. She’s the
only one I could think of who could help you. And she
did.
Honestly, I didn’t do much,” she said. All it took was a
bit of milk, that’s all.”
I don’t understand, said Eeebs. “Will someone just
tell me what’s going on?
Eldra nodded. “You’ve beenchosen.
Chosen? By who?”
The Nether.
Clyde oated closer. “The Nether found you, Eeebs. It
called you! Your arrival here was no accident.
What? That just doesn’t make sense,
thought the kitten.
Am I dreaming?
He shook his head.What would this world want from a
kitten like me?”
Purity, said the witch. Innocence. Courage.
Love. You must understand that the Nether isn’t an evil
place. It’s lled with darkness, but it isn’t evil. However,
many of its denizens are. The Nether needed a
champion, and when it couldn’t nd one here, well
it looked elsewhere. It found you.
Eeebs staggered. It felt like his body was
different. Well, maybe he was just drowsy—still a
little weak. He ignored these thoughts.
A champion for what?
But as he asked this, Eeebs realized that this was the one
question he could already answer himself.
EnderStar wants to rule the Overworld,said Clyde.
He’s terrible!
And if that happens,Eldra continued, “the Nether will
be in a great deal of trouble. The End, too. You see,
EnderStar won’t stop until he gains control of all
three worlds.
I think I get it.” Eeebs paused. Was he getting
smarter? He normally wouldn’t have been able to grasp
this kind of stuff. The Nether wants to stop him before he
gets too powerful, right?
The witch smiled. Exactly.
But … even if I want to help,” said Eeebs,what can I do?
Im just a kitten.
As Eeebs said this, Clyde got that look again. It was the
“I don’t want my friend to freak out, so I’m not going to say
anything”
look.
Eldra wasn’t as considerate. She smirked, looking him up
and down. Not anymore.
Eeebs followed her gaze.
His black fur had a vibrant blue sheen. His claws
were a bit larger, thick and black. And sharp. He was
also bigger and stronger—nearly as big as an adult
ocelot.
Eeebs held out his paws, examining them, moving each
digit. They were almost like human hands. “What
happened to me … ?
Its not like it’s a bad change, said Clyde defensively. “I
mean, think of it this way: At least you’ll never have to
worry about wolves again.”
The witch placed a hand upon his shoulder. The Nether
changed you. Strengthened you. And granted
you … powers, you could say. Once you learn to
control them, the minions of EnderStar will fall before
you like turnips during a harvest.”
The ghast managed a slight grin. “I think ‘nether
kitten has a nice ring to it, don’t you?
Eeebs stared down in horror. His mind spun and spun.
It was just too much for him. What would his mother
think? His friends?
He would be an outcast.
He would become an exile …
just like EnderStar.
Again, Eeebs thought of home. His vision blurred as
tears filled his eyes. He wiped them away with a clawed
paw and nodded at his two friends.Thank you,
Clyde. Thank you, Eldra.
Then, he took off. The Nether’s dull red terrain
streaked past him.
Wait! Clyde called out.Eeebs! There’s still a lot
you need to know! Eeebs ignored his friend’s cries.
He had wasted enough time.
A crazy nightmare,
he thought, leaping over a narrow lava
stream.
A hallucination brought on by too much stress. Or,
maybe this is really happening; maybe the Nether really did
turn me into some kind of weird monster.
He tore across
a ruddy stone plain.
It must have, because he could sense the portal’s
location across all that twisted stone. He pounced up from
ledge to ledge and raced through every plateau, until the
glowing violet door was directly in sight.
He didn’t know much about the Nether, what it was
capable of, or what kind of magic it had placed upon
him.
Was it a curse? A miracle?
Right now, there was only one thing he knew for sure.
He was now a pawn in a deadly gameand he had no
choice but to play.”
Armed with this sole truth, he cut away his fears and
doubts—cut away as if they were just cobwebs in a
mineshaft.
Just hold on,
he thought, sprinting toward the portal.
Mom … Meowz … Tufty …
I’m coming!
The lava. The inky gloom. The hot netherrack
underneath his paws. All of these things the kitten ignored
as he ran toward the portal.
He was too busy trying to make sense of it all. The
Nether: a dark world, a fiery world, a world that should
have nothing to do with kittens. But for some reason
this world chose a kitten to protect it. Perhaps a
kitten was a better choice than a zombie pigman.
Then this world called that kitten, pulling him from his
own world—the bright and tree-filled Overworld.
Later, the Nether granted him special abilities to help
him ght the hordes of darkness.
That kitten’s name was Eeebs.
And Eeebs was trying to escape the Nether.
The intense heat no longer gave him any trouble. The
clouds of smoke, which once made his eyes water, were
nothing to him. Instead, those eyes were nowxed on the
warm light radiating from the portal.
Portal.
His friend Clyde had taught him that word. This portal
was a doorway, linking two worlds. It looked like a
screen of violet energy, surrounded by a great ring of
black stone.
Eeebs couldn’t help but think about Clyde.
I’m sorry,
he thought.
Please forgive me, Clyde, for
running away without listening to you. I’ll come back. I have
to, because I have to thank you. And that witch, too. She
removed whatever illness I had.
Eeebs forced himself to stop thinking about his new
friends.
I’m sure they understand.
Eeebs had to go through that portal. He had to leave
this world and return to his own. Suddenly, it was the
only real thought in his mind.
No.
There was another thought.
Monsters, from this world, were headed to his own
world. To attack, to destroy. To claim the
Overworld as their own.
Of course, Eeebs had to warn his family and friends
before that happened.
He slowed down as he neared the portal. Its
enormous obsidian frame towered before him. All he
had to do was step through, as he had before, and hed be
back.
His heart froze.
He feared what he might see upon returning to the
Overworld. Maybe the monsters had already
A frightening image spawned in his mind.…
No! There’s no way something like that could happen!
Those pigmen are too slow!
He pushed such thoughts away, but another replaced
them.
Enough,
he told himself.
I can’t waste any more time.
He leapt through the purple mist.
As expected, everything went black. He nearly closed
his eyes. He was so afraid of seeing something
horrible. But the darkness became
Shades of green, brown. Nore, no ashes.
Nothing was burning. He stepped out of the portal into the
thicket where the wolves had almost caught him.
The trees were still there, along with the grass and the
owers, and suddenly he realized just how nice the forest
smelled. He had never thought about it, until now. Actually,
even the swamp smelled better than the Nether. That
place was horrible for a kitten’s nose.
That was when he caught another scent. A familiar
scent, like rotten mushrooms.
That was the stench of a zombie pigman. Yuck.
He snied and sniffed, detecting more scents in the air.
That ashen smell was from a blaze, and that bitter smell no
doubt came from one of those magma cubes.
They were here.
Somewhere. Somewhere close.
Maybe just beyond that large hill.
Relief washed over him. The monsters were stupid and
slow—they hadn’t yet reached his home. It was far from
this area, on the other side of the forest.
His mind was working like never before. The monsters
also hadn’t reached the village, where the villagers lived. It
was even farther away, in the plains past the forest.
So since Eeebs was so fast now, he could reach his home
before the monsters.
Of course, he did want to know what those monsters
were up to. Why were they still here, in the forest?
Shouldn’t they have attacked the village by now?
What could they be doing? He hadn’t the slightest idea,
which meant … he had to find out. He nodded to
himself.
No matter how much the Nether had changed him, it
couldn’t remove his curiosity.
With his nose as a guide, Eeebs began heading in the
direction of the monsters. Slowly, at rst, until soon he was
bounding over mushrooms and zooming through
tall grass.
Eeebs climbed up a hill. With every step, the stench
of monsters grew stronger, and their snarls became
louder. When Eeebs nally reached the top, he crept low
through the grass and peered down the other side.
His pulse quickened. There they were.
All of them.
From blazes to wither skeletons. A snarling,
growling mass of undead and fiery beasts.
And in the middle of them allEnderStar. The
kitten’s fear, however, soon evaporated. In fact, he had to
keep himself from laughing.
He crept closer to get a better view.
The monsters, they were staggering around,
stumbling into one another. At one point, a zombie
pigman fell over into the grass.
Then a second pigman tripped over him, went flying,
and knocked over a third.
It was a ridiculous sight: an army of
fearsome-looking mobs, bumbling around in a
daisy eld.
Their distant screams caught his attention. Eeebs
perked his ears up to catch what they were saying.
It hurts!screamed a zombie pigman. Mee
eyes!
A blaze hissed and sparked.Massssshter …
me no see!
Urgggg!!!A wither skeleton fell over, dropping his
stone sword. He pointed a bonynger toward the
sun.Yellow square thing! Up there! Too
bright!
Another wither skeleton was chopping at a tree.
Mee do good, mashter? Look! Mee chop!
A zombie pigman joined the skeleton.
Mee too, mashter!
The wither skeleton’s sword seemed to be stuck in the
tree.BosSsH, mee sword! The enemy is so strong!
The huge enderman let out a long sigh. That’s
a tree, you idiots!!
The wither skeleton glanced at EnderStar and then back
at the tree.
How can me know, bossh? Mee eyes don’t work right
now!”
The zombie pigman kept chopping at the tree. Mee
want chop things! So mee chop!!
A great many zombie pigmen writhed on the ground,
hands covering their eyes as they screamed.
Urggh! Mashter!! Make yellow square go away!”
It burn! It burn! Rarrrggg!!
Bossh! You say attack village very easy! Holp mee!!
Arggg!! Villagers use magikk on us!”
Mashter, mee cannot chop if mee cannot see!
There were lots of shouts like these.
Eeebs only watched in disbelief.
It reminded Eeebs of a scary time, when he’d gone
playing in a cave. There had been a big spider in there, and
it had chased him for a long time. The spider had run
fast, Eeebs remembered. Faster than him. So fast, the
spider had caught up to Eeebs by the time he exited the
cave. Eeebs had thought he was a goner. All he could
hear was that horrible squeak. And then there were
those glowing red eyes.
However, when the spider stepped out into the
sun, it froze. The spider just sat there, right in front
of Eeebs, fangs dripping and eyes gleaming. It couldn’t
do a thing, because it couldn’t see.
That was how Eeebs had learned that spiders were
blinded by sunlight. Spiders lived in caves. Their eyes
were used to the darkness.
With that in mind, Eeebs now understood why these
Nether mobs couldn’t see. They shared the same
weakness.
The Nether was, in many ways, similar to a cave. When
he first arrived there, Eeebs assumed it was just one
gigantic cavern.
Even though the Nether had areas lled with lava, it
was still pretty dark in most places. So these monsters had
lived their whole lives in that gloomy place. Their eyes
were used to the darkness. Just like the spiders.
Wow,
he thought.
I never could have understood that so
easily before. I’m getting smarter, huh? Maybe that’s one of
the things the Nether did to me? Made me more intelligent?
Concealed in the tall grass, Eeebs kept spying.
EnderStar seemed angrier and angrier.
The enderman looked up and shook a fist at the sky.
I can’t believe this! All of my planning
ruined by the stupid sun!!
A zombie pigman walked up to the enderman. He was
wearing a golden object on his head.
Mee lord? Maybe we go now and come back
when no yellow square thing.
EnderStar patted the pigman on the head.
You’re a clever one, he said. “That’s why I’ve
made you a captain.
So The zombie pigman paused. We go back
now?
Of course.” EnderStars voice crackled like lava.
Gather the troops. Take them back. This was only
meant to be practice, anyway. I wanted you all to get
some training before we … attack the real village.
The pigman nodded.Yesh, mee lord.”
Eeebs squinted, focusing on the zombie pigman. He
seemed different from the others. He wasn’t
completely stupid, at least.
So that pigman was EnderStar’s assistant? Also
what was that thing on his head? Eeebs continued
observing the mobs from his hiding spot. His ears were
raised up in the direction of the army.
Anyway, today was not a total waste,said
EnderStar.Weve learned something useful. Next time,
we’ll come right after the sun sets.
Of coursh, mee lord. So you go? I take pigmen and
re things back now? We go home?
Yes,said the enderman. “See you back at the
fortress.
With that, EnderStar vanished into thin air.
POOF!
Eeebs had encountered endermen before. He knew they
had this ability, so he wasn’t too surprised.
EnderStar also said something about afortress.
Fortress.
Clyde had mentioned that word before. He thought
Eeebs had come from a nether fortress. So that must
be the monsters’ … home?
Eeebs needed to speak with Clyde about this. After he
talked to his friends and family, he had to return to the
Nether.
Shaking himself from his thoughts, Eeebs looked at the
mobs again.
Now in charge of the other mobs, the smart
pigman turned to his comrades. Hey! All you! Shut
up! Stop crying! We go home!
Loud grunts and snorts lled the air.
Home better anyway,” said a wither skeleton. Mee
no like this place.
Bzzztrg … t-too c-c-cold here,” a blaze sputtered.
G-go h-home w-w-warm. Mee happy! Argg! Bzzzt!
A magma cube shivered and hopped in agreement.
But we no see,said a wither skeleton. “We no see!
So … how we know where go?
I can see,said the smart zombie pigman. He
pointed to the golden object he wore on his head.
Eeebs had seen humans wearing such things to protect
themselves in battle. So did that allow the pigman
captain to see in the sunlight? He really was
smarter than most zombie pigmen.
Follow me,he said. “I take you home. All you. Use
ears. Me sing song. Okay?
Thanks, Rarg! Mee so cold!!”
Okay! We follow you, Rarg!”
Yes!! Lead the way! Get mee out of here!”
With that, the captain pigman
(whose name was
apparently Rarg)
began singing.
Ninety-nine villager noobs in da town! Ninety-nine
villager noobs! Smash one down! Into da
ground!! Ninety-eight villager noobs in da town! Ninety-
eight villager noobs in da town! Ninety-eight villager noobs
…”
As he bellowed, the captain trudged o in the direction
of the portal. The other monsters followed. Some
began singing along:
Ninety-seven villager noobs in da town! Ninety-seven
villager noobs! Smash one down! Into—” Rarg
stopped, turned around.
Shut up! Only I sing! If others sing, how you know who
to follow?
Rarg so smart!
Okay! We shut up!
Rarg turned back around and began singing and marching
again. Eeebs watched them go.
Their little attack failed,
he thought.
They must have
arrived very early in the morning, just before sunrise. Then
the sun came up and blinded them all.
And they were stranded. Helpless. Helpless underneath
that overpowering light.
That means … the Overworld still has time. Maybe a lot of
time.
But … when they do come back, they’ll be more prepared.
Maybe, when they return, they’ll all have those golden
things on their heads, like Rarg.
Eeebs didn’t realize, of course, just how well hidden
he was. In fact, as he remained motionless in the grass,
he had become nearly invisible. Without another
thought, the kitten jumped down the hill.
After he moved, he became fully visible again.
Fifteen minutes later
Eeebs was standing outside of the grove.
It was where all of the cats lived. He could hear playful
meows in the distance.
Was that … Tufty? Meowz? He crept through the
grass.
He couldn’t believe it. He was actually home? And … he
could see them now, in the distance.
His friends.
They were playing some kind of game.
Hey, not fair! hissed Tufty, glaring at Meowz. “You
always cheat.”
I didn’t cheat, she said. You never said no
peeking.”
Its always like that,” said Tufty. You never said
this. You never said that. I miss Eeebs. At
least he played fair.…
Meowz looked down at the ground, her eyes full of
tears.Me too.
Eeebs froze. They were still thinking about him. They were
worried about him. But what would they think when they
saw him? His fur was blue now.…
He stepped forward anyway.
I wonder where he is if he’s still alive.… said
Meowz.
If you ask me,” said Tufty,he went into that thing.
Hmm. Let’s go looking for him again.”
Sure, but do you have any idea where that black
thing is?”
Its called a nether portal, said Eeebs.
Tufty and Meowz turned to him. The look on their faces
was indescribable.
A piercing sound came from Meowz. Eeeeeee
Tufty stepped back. “Who is Then, the two seemed
to recognize him.Eeebs?
Eeebs?” Meowz cautiously stepped forward. Is that
… really you?
Eeebs nodded.
What … happened to you?
I’m the one who should ask,” Eeebs said.
You went in,said Tufty. Didn’t you? You actually …
went into that place?
The kittens knew stories of the Nether, although they
didn’t call it by that name. Stories about the black door.
The glowing purple light. Old stories. Legends telling
how the bravest and strongest cats once went
through that door. And never came back.
Eeebs, however, had come back.
Maybe he had been lucky to meet Clyde, who taught him
all about that world. Or maybe it wasnt luck. Eeebs had
thought nothing of talking to Clyde. But an older, wiser cat
probably wouldn’t have tried talking to a ghast. An older,
wiser cat would have simply run.
Just as Eeebs had ignored the legends and the warnings
from his mother, he’d also ignored his common
sense—which generally encouraged running away
from giant white ying things that cried and shot balls
of re from their mouths.
Who knew there could be a ghast who was actually kind?
That was why Eeebs had survived.
As Tufty and Meowz stood before him, in awe, Eeebs
told them about all his adventures. What happened to him.
How he changed. How the Nether had chosen him.
Chose you for what?asked Tufty.
To help fight against that army,” said Eeebs. “I guess.
Then, Eeebs told them about how an enderman was
planning to take over their own world.
So let me get this straight,” said Meowz. “That place, the
Nether, chose you? To be some kind of warrior? And you
have likespecial powers and stu?
Eeebs nodded again. Basically, yeah.
Wow,said Tufty. That’s too cool, huh? Special
powers? Fighting bad guys? And honestly, Eeebs,
you don’t even look that scary! Where do I sign up? I
wanna help you!
By the way, what kind of powers do you have, anyway?
asked Meowz.
Well, I don’t know,said Eeebs. I mean, Clyde and his
friend were about to tell me more about the change, but
I ran off before they could. I just wanted to nd you
guys.
Awww.Meowz’s eyes grew even more tearful.
Thanks.
A good friend,said Tufty. “Us too. We looked for you
everywhere, you know? We haven’t really slept since you
disappeared. Anyway … I’m just glad you’re back.”
Eeebs sighed. Me too, but … at some point, I’ll have to go
back there.”
All three of them looked down at the ground. Then, a
cry broke the silence.
Eeebs?
It was his mother.
Eeebs’s mother carefully approached the three kittens.
She looked like Eeebs
(the old Eeebs, anyway),
only bigger.
Eeebs only swallowed, his eyes wide.
Oh boy,whispered Tufty. “Things are gonna get
crazy.
Meowz joined him in cowering.
This isn’t good,” she murmured.She scolded Eeebs for
days just for going too close to the re lake, over in the
plains. How do you think she’ll react to this?
His mother was now quite close, and as she noticed her
son, she couldn’t hide her astonishment.Eeebs
Cottonpaw Thistlewhiskers, what on Earth
happened to you?!”
Mom, I can explain, said Eeebs, his ears lowered,
tail between his legs.You see, there’s this—
Enough! she hissed. You’ll explain this to your
father!
She picked him up by the scruff of his neck and
hauled him off to their cat burrow.
Tufty and Meowz exchanged
worried glances.
For half an hour, Eeebs stared at the floor as his mother
scolded him. Of course, he tried telling her about what had
happened. But she wasn’t hearing any of it.
I told you not to go near that door!she said. Cats
have no business in there!”
I’m okay, Mom. Really. Maybe what happened to me
is a good thing.”
Good? She turned away.How can it be good? You
look so different now. Your fur, it’sit’sit’s
blue!
Eeebs rubbed up against his mom.
Hey. I’m sorry for going in there, butmonsters really
are going to attack our world.
Well, what can we do about it?she said. Let the humans
deal with it. And those … villagers.
I don’t think it’s that simple, Eeebs said. “I mean, the
mob army is huge. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.
This made his mother even more worried.And what
exactly are you supposed to do?
Eeebs sighed. I don’t know, Mom. But there must be a
reason. That’s what Clyde said. He’s a ghast. Oh,
and his friend, Eldra. She’s a witch. She said—”
Ghast?! his mother yelled. Witch?! Young man,
you won’t go near those things again! Do you
understand?
But they’re my friends.
Friends?! No, you won’t be making friends with
monsters!
Not all monsters are bad, Mom.… Clyde is really,
really nice.
His mother was really upset now. Just wait until your
father hears about this! You’re lucky he’s out hunting
right now!”
Mom, please just calm down.
It went on like this for some time. Like most mothers, she
was a bit overprotective.
His father eventually came back, carrying some
salmon. He was a good hunter.
When his father noticed Eeebs, he dropped the salmon on
to the grass oor of their house.
Son? What … happened?
And so, Eeebs explained all over again. Thankfully, his
father wasn’t as upset. He almost seemed proud of
Eeebs.
The Nether chose you?he said. “I don’t like it, but …
this must be important.
What are you saying?said his mother.
His father icked his tail, thinking for a moment. I just
think we should try to learn more about this.
I can’t believe you’re saying this!His mom
circled back and forth.
Honey, we can’t do anything about it. What happened
happened.
His mother sighed. Then, there were several cries
outside.
Monster! Run!!
Eeebs glanced at his mom and dad
then dashed outside.
A crowd of cats and kittens scattered in terror.
A witch walked out from behind a massive oak tree.
Eeebs!she shouted. Eeebs! Are you there? Oh,
there are so many kittens, but none of them are the one I’m
looking for! At least, I don’t think any of you are Eeebs.…
Blue fur? Purple eyes? No, no, no! Where is he?!”
The few remaining kittens squealed and ran off to their
parents. But one kitten remained.
Eeebs slowly walked toward the witch.
The other felines crouched in their hiding places,
watching Eeebs approach what appeared to be a hideous
monster.
(Actually, to them, Eeebs appeared like a
monster as well.)
Eldra!Eeebs said. How did you get here?!”
Same as you. I simply went through the portal,
Eldra said. I’m from the Overworld too, you know!”
Suddenly, Eeebs’s mother and father ran up to him. Get
away from that thing, Son! Its dangerous!
Dangerous? The witch giggled. “Yes, I suppose I am
dangerous! But only when I have potions, and I’m all out.”
Enough! said Eeebs’s father. Leave our son alone!
He will not associate with the likes of you!
The witch cackled—an eerie, high-pitched sound. This
caused some other kittens in the distance to begin crying.
After the witch stopped laughing, Eeebs sighed.
Mom, Dad, meet Eldra. Eldra’s a witch. But she’s
really, really nice. She helped me when I got sick.
I wouldn’t be alive if it weren’t for her. So you should
thank her.
His parents peered at Eldra.
You don’t have to praise me,” said Eldra.
A bat flew past her. She grabbed it. Ooooo! How
lucky! I need bat wings!” The witch stuffed the
squeaking creature into her belt pouch.
His parents backed away, making low growling
sounds, pulling Eeebs along with them.
Eldra continued. Actually, your son is special. I’m
certain he would have survived, even without my help!
No way, said Eeebs. “I was so sick. My stomach was
roiling, and I passed out, and—
Stop it, Eeebs! Just stop!” His mother was
beginning to weep again. Then she wiped her face with a
paw and turned to Eldra.Is it true? Youhelped our
son?
Eldra nodded.
Who wouldn’t help a lost kitten? Besides, he’s got the
mark!
Mark? What do you mean?asked Eeebss father.
I can tell you what I know,said Eldra.But first …let the
rest of your kind know: I wish you no harm. In fact, if you
want to survive …you’d best listen to me.
And so Eeebs’s parents nally calmed down.
The rest of the felines eventually crept back—but
cautiously, slowly, very slowly.
At last Eldra began to tell everyone the history of
Minecraftia.… How an innocent kitten came to
befriend a nice ghast named Clyde And how an evil
enderman, exiled from the End, rose to power in the
Nether . ..
After perhaps an hour of talking, Eeebs said his goodbyes to
everyone he knew. His mother and father were in tears.
In case we get attacked,” said his father,we’ll dig a
small cave nearby. That way we’ll have a place to run and
hide.
Eeebs nodded.
Good idea. And don’t cry, huh? I’ll be back soon! I
promise!
Then Eeebs turned to his two best friends. Strangely,
Tufty and Meowz didn’t seem upset. In fact, they seemed a
bit happy.
Am I just imagining things?
Eeebs thought.
How can they
not be sad? Even I want to cry right now!
I wish you didn’t have to go, Eeebs,” said Meowz.I’ll
miss you.
Same here, said Tufty. “I’m so sad. So sad. But
hey, you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do.
Eldra the witch smiled at Eeebs’s mother and patted her
head.
Don’t worry,” Eldra said. “Your son just needs some
training. I’ll do my best. He’ll be back soon. I promise.
With that, Eldra and Eeebs took off, back to the
portal.
Five minutes later, Eeebs already missed his parents.
And his friends. He hadn’t even been home for more than
two hours.
But then, his heart grew lighter at the thought of
seeing Clyde again. Upon entering the Nether, Eldra led
Eeebs back to her stone hut.
I’ve been meaning to ask,” said Eeebs.As you said, you
come from the Overworld. So why do you have a
house in the Nether?
The witch sighed.Well rst, it’s called a hut.
The kitten looked up at her, waiting for her answer. The
witch continued.
Brewing,” she said. Nether wart. Blaze
powder. The Nether has a lot of things I need. So, I
decided to build a second hut here.”
She opened the door. “Now, lets begin.
Eeebs followed Eldra inside. She walked over to the
cauldron. The purple liquid bubbling within it smelled
strange yet delicious at the same time.
Mushroom-bat stew,she said. Care for some?
Eeebs’s stomach grumbled as the witch said this.
How sad,
Eeebs thought.
I didn’t even eat anything while I
was at home. I should have grabbed some salmon . . . or a
pufferfish. I’m not picky!
Sure, he said at last.
The witch set a steaming bowl of stew on to the oor. The
kitten lapped it up hungrily. Actually, it wasn’t that
bad.
Now,said Eldra.Before we start, let me tell you: You’re
not the only strange creature walking around
Minecraftia.
The kitten’s ears perked up.
You mean there are others like me?
Eldra shrugged. “In a way.
Like what?
Well, during a full moon, one out of a hundred spiders
that spawn are granted special powers similar to yours.
The Dark Blessing, it’s called. Some can heal
their wounds quickly. Others are impossible to see or
possess incredible strength. And then there are
creepers, who become much stronger when struck by
lightning. Pigs struck by lightning turn into zombie
pigmen. And where do you think I came from? I used to be
a villager, you know … until I went out in that
thunderstorm.
Eeebs scratched his chin. “Is all that related to the
Nether, like me?
Not exactly. Still, there are many unusual creatures
wandering around. So don’t feel alone.
Thank you.”
Eldra smiled. As for your powers . . .
Yes,” said Eeebs. “Youve mentioned that before. What are
they?
Well, rst, you’re probably already aware that you can
think more clearly.
Eeebs nodded.I’ve been able to gure stuff out on
my own way easier than before.
And your senses are sharper, correct?
The kitten nodded again. “I can sense nether portals
and even see in the dark better than before.
Of course.” The witch gazed into his purple eyes.
From what I’ve read, the spider’s Dark Blessing also
affects you, in limited form. If you stand still, you’ll be
nearly invisible. I’m not sure what you have to do to
heal faster, though. Beyond that, you’ll nd that you have
the powers of every mob native to the Nether.”
What does that mean?asked Eeebs.
For one, youre all but immune tore. Including
lava.
Lava,
Eeebs thought.
That’s that fiery orange stuff!
You mean I won’t be hurt by it?!”
Not at all,” said the witch. “You can swim around in it
all day if you want, and it won’t even singe your whiskers.
At this point, the kitten’s curiosity was overowing. He
didn’t have to fear the Nether anymore! He could explore
as much as he wanted!
Wait,
he thought,
how can I think about exploring at a time
like this?!
What else?” he asked.
Hmm. You can spit reballs the same way a ghast
can, and I’m guessing you have a Wither effect, like all
wither skeletons. And a zombie pigman’s strength.
Perhaps you can even fly like a blaze? But you’ll have to
learn how to do all of that from the mobs themselves.
Of course, I believe you have even more special
powers, but I must research more. I haven’t had much time,
since I had to go looking for you.”
This is so great!said Eeebs.
Indeed. When you come to understand your strengths,
you’ll basically be a boss monster, like the ender
dragon or the wither. Cool, huh?
What are those?Eeebs asked.
Oh, never mind.
The kitten sighed. Whatever. I can’t wait until Clyde
teaches me how to shoot reballs. Where is he, anyway?
The witch looked down at the oor. Um . . .
What?The kitten crept forward. What is it? Where
is he?
Well, it really hurts to say this, but . . .The witch
turned around. “Shortly after you left, Clyde …joined
EnderStars army.
Eeebs stepped back, slowly. The words repeated in his
head, over and over.
Clyde.
Joined EnderStar’s army.
Clyde.
A happy
ghast.
A nice guy.
Helpful.
Cries at the slightest hint of bad
news.
And he joined …those monsters?!
I …I don’t get it.… Why?
I don’t know, said Eldra.He tried following you, but
ghasts can’t fly very fast, you know. He couldn’t even find
the portal. I’ve never seen a ghast shed so many tears.
He kept asking me where the portal was, how to find you.
I’m not a tour guide! Then he just floated away.
A single tear ran down the kitten’s cheek. “I can’t . . .
believe this.…”
Be strong,said Eldra.There must be a good reason
why he did something like that. Believe in your friend.”
Eeebs looked up at Eldra again. “I have to go nd him!
Of course you do. You should stay here rst, though,
and train with me …but you’re not going to do that, are
you?
Not a chance,said Eeebs, shaking his head. I
owe him.
Then you’ll want to head to the nether fortress. It’s
that way.She pointed out the window. “You can’t miss it.”
Eeebs glanced out the window, then back at Eldra. The
witch gave him a blank look.
What? Are you expecting me to ask you to stay here? I
know you by now, Eeebs. You’ll go. Youll do anything to save
your friend. There’s simply nothing I can do.”
You’re right, just . . .”
What?
Do you have any advice for me? It’s not like I’ve ever
been to a nether fortress.
Eldra took out a book from her item chest.
The best piece of advice I can give you is to write in
this every day. It’s called a diary. Within its pages, you
can record your experiences and any important
information.”
But I don’t even know how to write! Or spell. Or read. Im
a kitten.
Wrong, Eldra said. That’s another one of your
abilities. I forgot to mention that.
But even if I know how to write, I can’t hold a quill!
Eldra handed the kitten a quill. Haven’t you noticed your
paws are a little different?
Eeebs glanced down at his paws, held each one in front of
him, and then grabbed the quill.
Unbelievable.
What’s so hard to believe?” asked Eldra.This is
Minecraftia.
Right. So …book, quill, anything else?
You’re smart. You’ll gure out the rest. And do bring
Clyde back. He owes me more tears.”
Count on it.
Once again, Eeebs took owithout much hesitation.
He had an inventory, a diary, a quill, and a whole lot
of courage.
But how am I going to sneak into a nether fortress?
he
thought.
What’s Clyde doing, anyway?
Why did he join that crazy army? Was he angry because I
took off? What happened?
Eldra watched the kitten zoom off into the Nether.
Hes sure got spirit,she said to herself.I think he’ll
be just ne.
She went back into her hut, glanced at the bubbling
cauldron, at the brewing stand, and nally …her mat on the
oor. It was just carpet, but it was the best she could do.
Beds exploded in the Nether, for whatever reason.
She suddenly felt exhausted. She yawned, headed
over to her mat, and …heard a mewing sound coming
from just outside her hut.
What’s that noise?
she thought.
It almost sounds like a
kitten! But
. . .
what’s Eeebs doing back so soon?
The witch, thoroughly confused, went outside and
glanced around. Lying nearby, on the reddish netherrack,
was not just one kitten, but two.
They looked sickly, barely conscious, as Eeebs had been
after he’d rst entered the Nether.
However, they didn’t look like Eeebs at all. One had tan
fur with orange stripes. The other, light gray and
brown with bright blue eyes.
Both kittens soon stopped moving, having lost
consciousness.
Eldra carefully approached them. She realized she
wouldn’t be getting sleep anytime soon. She needed two
buckets of milk to cure their illness, and she was fresh
out.
I wonder,
she thought.
Can I bring a cow into the Nether?
She bent down and picked up the two kittens, one in each
arm, then took them into her hut and laid them on her mat.
Of course, she wasn’t surprised when she examined
them.
Like Eeebs,
both kittens had the mark.
Meow?
Okay. There we go. I finally figured it out.
Apparently, I needed to use
a chicken feather, not my paws.
So, where do I begin? My name is Eeebs. I’m a kitten.
Well, sort of. I’m a little different, nowadays.
What happened? I still don’t know completely. I was just
trying to get away from those wolves. Then I found that
nether portal.…
After I stepped through, I began changing. I found
that I could run faster, jump higher. Even turn slightly
invisible. This witch I met said I could even gain the
abilities of monsters.
Plus, I’m way smarter than I used to be. After all,
kittens don’t typically have diaries.
The witch said there’s a reason why all of this happened.
I’ve been chosen” to help save the world. Theres this
huge army of monsters, and they want to take over all
three dimensions.
Of course, I’m supposed to help stop them. Me. A
kitten. I find that hard to believe.
The only thing I’ve ever been good at is chasing
bats around. I’m pretty sure there’s a lot more to
saving the world than that.
Anyway, for now I’m putting all that aside. You see, during
my time in the Nether, I also made a friend: Clyde.
He’s a ghast. He taught me a lot of things about his
world. But then, the witch said he took off to join that
army.
My best buddy, siding with the enemy? Clyde would
never do that! And if he did, it must have been for a very
good reason. Maybe he’s spying on them. Or maybe they
forced him.
In the end, it doesn’t matter why he left. I have to go
find him.
The witch said that Clyde took off to this place called a
nether forest. Was she joking around with me? I don’t
think the Nether even has forests.
Ive been searching for hours
and haven’t found a single tree.
I searched around the Nether some more.
At first, all I found were mushrooms, glowstone, and
a lot of zombie pigmen.
Then I saw a weird creature. He was stranded in
the middle of a lava lake, balancing on a single block of
netherrack.
The Nether is full of strange stuff, but I’ve never
seen anything like it before. I just had to see what he was
doing there.
But as I got closer, I noticed that this creature looked
unfriendly. Dangerous, even. He was made of
bones and was carrying one of those sharp things the
pigmen always have on them.
Just as I turned away, he shouted:
Hey! Don’t leave, huh?! I really need some help over
here!”
My curiosity got the best of me. I turned back and
approached the lava.
How can I help? I called out, stepping to the lake’s
edge. I can’t swim in lava.
Sure you can,he said. You won’t burn up! Just
hop in, oat over here, and give me a ride! Wait …you
are a magma cube, aren’t you?
Actually, I’m not.
The creature leaned forward slightly, as if taking a better
look. Oh, sorry! My vision’s not the best these days.
Well, if youre not a magma cube, what are you, then?
His question totally threw me off guard.
How could someone not know a kitten when they see
one? Even one such as myself …
What do you mean, what am I?! I hissed. What
are you?!
The bony figure whirled around, apparently just as
shocked. What? Havent you ever seen a wither
skeleton before?!”
I have,I said. But only a few times, and I never knew
what you guys were called. I’m from the Overworld.
Long story.
Right. Some other time.The so-called skeleton
paused. Got a name?
Eeebs. You?
Batwing. He glanced around. “Well, Eeebs from the
Overworld, how about we help each other out?
Assuming I even could get you out of there,I said,
what would you do for me?”
The skeleton laughed.Simple. You need a guide.
You’re clearly lost. I mean, if you knew anything
about this place, you wouldn’t be going that way. No,
anywhere but that way.”
I glanced in the direction I’d been heading earlier.
All I could see were netherrack hills, nether quartz veins,
and lavafalls.
It doesn’t look so bad,I said, pretending not to
care. But again, my curiosity soon took hold. “What’s over
there, anyway?
More of my kind, Batwing said, plus a whole
lot of blazes. And none of them are as nice as me. Believe
me, fuzz block, the last place you want to be going
to is a nether fortress.
My ears perked up. Nether fortress …?
So that explained why I never found any trees. I thought
the witch had said nether forest, but I must have
misheard.
This whole language thing is still new to me. I could
speak with other cats before, yes, but my conversations
with other creatures were very limited. The only non-
cat word I knew before this change was grr, which is
wolf for Im going to eat you now.
After realizing what the skeleton had said, I was so
excited that I stepped to the very edge of the lake and
nearly slipped off.
A nether fortress?! That’s exactly where I need to
go! My friend went there! I need to save him!”
You’ve got to be kidding me.…” The wither skeleton
lowered his head. And here I thought it was my lucky
day.
The deal’s still on, right?
The skeleton shook his head. No. No deal. No
way am I going there.
Fine.I turned around. “Then I’ll just have to go there
myself. See you around!
N-no, w-wait!the skeleton called out. Okay! You
win! Just get me o this rock, and I’ll take you anywhere
you want to go.”
I nodded. “What do I do?”
Thats easy. Since you can’t swim, you’re going to
be building a bridge.
Bridge? Another word I didn’t know. Clyde had taught
me a lot of words, but he’d never mentioned anything
about bridges.
A what?
Seriously? They dont have bridges in the
Overworld, either?”
Maybe they do, but I’ve never heard of them. Also, what’s
‘building’?
Batwing grumbled to himself. Never mind. I’ll walk
you through it. You don’t happen to have any tools, do you?
My confusion only grew. Tools?
More grumbling from my new friend. He glanced
downward, particularly at my paws. Then he chuckled.
Y’know, actually, I think we can make this
work.
Come on! Punch!
A skeleton named Batwing, surrounded by lava,
shouted these words at me. It’s been a weird couple of days.
Still near the shore, I stared down at the reddish
netherrack beneath my paws. “So, I just hit it? Like
this?”
Exactly! But harder!
I threw a real punch this time.
Cracks formed where my paw struck the ground. Only,
they vanished as quickly as they had appeared.
Don’t stop!Batwing called out. Just keep
punching!
Seems a little weird.
It’s not! Its what you have to do when you don’t have
any tools!”
Right.” More punching.
My paws hammered away at a block of netherrack.
I didn’t let up this time—just kept punching away. The
cracks grew larger and larger, until nally the block
came loose. I pulled it out without too much effort.
It wasn’t as heavy as I’d expected.
Batwing seemed pleased. Thats it! Now, just
place it over by the edge there!”
I did as he instructed. Since I was holding the block
with my front paws, I had to stand upward on my hind legs.
I was walking. Just like a zombie pigman. Only
not as fast. Hobbling over, I shoved the block against the
edge of the shore. Strangely, as if by magic, the block
snapped into place.
I’d never known that it was possible to change the
environment like this. Truly, I understood nothing about the
rules of this world.
(Even if I am smarter than the
average kitten, I still have a lot to learn.)
Great work so far!” Batwing said. “Now, do it ve
more times!
I glanced at the lava between us. Suddenly, it all made
sense.
If I placed enough blocks, a row of netherrack would be
formed across the lava, a so-called bridge.”
(Gosh,
these monsters and their fancy words!)
Punch, punch.
I moved a second block. A third.
Finally, after I placed the sixth, Batwing jumped so
high it was almost as if he could have cleared the lava
without a bridge at all.
Then he zoomed to safety, stopped, spun around, and
jumped again.Oh, man! I can’t believe this! You
don’t know how thankful I am, kitten! I was trapped
there for weeks!
Now that you mention it,I said, walking up to him,
exactly how did you wind up there?”
Batwing looked away. Those animals! They put
me there! After I told them we shouldn’t be attacking the
Overworld!”
Who’sthey’?
Then it hit me.You mean you were part of that army?
Yes. Was. I couldn’t go along with everything they
were doing. That enderman is crazy.
I knew he must have been talking about EnderStar—an
enderman so bad his own kind actually kicked him
out of the End.
By the way,Batwing went on, you should know that
not everyone in the Nether is bad. Like my friends. I’d
like to introduce you to them.”
Thats fine,I said.But first . . .
Yeah, yeah, I know. Wellnd your friend. But let’s
get one thing straight first.
Whats that?
I’ll do all the talking.
We finally reached the fortress.
I’d never seen anything so big—just block after
block of nether brick.
Another so-called bridge spanned a wide chasm lled
with more orange re water. A wither skeleton was
standing guard there.
That’s Wishbone,Batwing whispered. “Not too smart,
but an all right kind of guy. Just follow me and don’t say
anything. Actually, wait. Make a hissing sound. Can you
do that?
I hissed. Like this?
Kind of. But more like smoldering magma or
something.”
Magma?
Batwing facepalmed. Dude. You have seen a
magma cube before, right?
Maybe? I don’t know?
Whatever. After we go up to him, just start
hissing.
Okay.”
Batwing walked up to the wither skeleton, and I followed.
I never thought youd make it off that block,”
Wishbone said, with your fear of swimming and all.
Anyway, the boss said you aren’t exactly welcome here
anymore.
That’s fine. Batwing pointed at me.I just wanted to
show the boss this, and then I’ll be on my way.”
Huh? What’s that?
A very rare type of magma cube, Batwing said.
Might be useful for the army.”
Wishbone approached me.Doesn’t look like any magma
cube I’ve ever seen. Aren’t they supposed to look like, um,
you know, magma?
Batwing shook his head. As I said, this is an
extremely rare type. And very powerful, I
might add.” He glanced at me.Plus, it hisses, just like
any magma cube.
Oh. Right.
I hissed as loud as I could.
What kind of sound is that?! Wishbone said. Listen, it
doesn’t sound like a magma cube at all, and why is it
blue?
Batwing sighed. You’re making fun of a poor little
magma cube because he’s blue, are you? You know the
boss doesn’t like such discrimination!
N-no,Wishbone said. “I—”
Batwing shook his st, seemingly angry.So he’s blue!
So what?! Do you know how many monsters have made
fun of him for this?”
I was just joking!
Clearly! A joke at his expense!”
I’m sorry! Please come in! Don’t tell anyone I said
that!”
Fine. And dont tell anyone we’re here, Batwing said. I
want EnderStar to be surprised when he sees his new
gift.
Y-yeah, okay, okay.” Wishbone looked at me. “Sorry,
man. Blue magma cubes are totally cool, all right? Even
blue magma cubes with legs!
Hissss?! Hisss! Hiss-hiss-hiss!!”
I said I’m sorry!” He stepped backward and made a wide
gesture. Come on in.
With that, we walked past him and stepped inside the
fortress.
You’re probably wondering why that guy was so
afraid,Batwing said once we were out of earshot.From
what I’ve heard, EnderStar was picked on as a kid because
his eyes glowed too brightly.
I certainly know how it feels,I said. “So, any monster
under his command who makes fun of another’s
appearance is punished?
Yeah. Something like that.”
As we wandered farther inside, I began to realize just how
huge the nether fortress was: Endless halls stretched for
hundreds of blocks.
There were so many monsters here, too. I’d seen
most of them before. Batwing told me the angryre
things, oating in the air, were called blazes. More wither
skeletons marched in groups, along with zombie
pigmen. I even saw a few ghasts oating around in the
larger chambers. Sadly, none of them were Clyde.
Another wither skeleton soon stopped and questioned
me:
Hey! You there! What are you, exactly? Youre the
strangest-looking monster I’ve ever seen!”
I am Lord Sizzleblock, I said, Royal Magma Cube
from the Overworld. EnderStar has asked me to pay him a
visit. And you are?
Yes, let us know your name,Batwing said,so that
the noble Lord Sizzleblock can inform the great
and powerful EnderStar of such discrimination and
—”
The skeleton fell to his knees and bowed so deeply he all
but kissed the nether brickoor.Forgive me at once, Your
Majesty! I simply didn’t know that your kind came in
such lovely shades of blue! How many times do you want
me to bow?
Fifty should be enough,” I said.
Of course, my lord!
Every time a monster questioned us, it went pretty
much like that.
Once, a zombie pigman grunted at us. Urg! Who you?
Why you here?He looked closer. Urguu?! What you
are?!”
Batwing pointed his sharp stick at the zombified
pigman. How dare you address the grand and
majestic King Flamepixel with such insolence! He
visits upon EnderStar’s request, who shall be notied of
your—”
The zombie pigman didn’t apologize.
Instead, he ran off the nearby edge of the fortress—
without jumping, just kind of tipping over—and fell
into the lava far below. The way he dropped off instead of
jumping …it was like he wanted to reach the lava as fast
as zombie pigman–ly possible, to the millisecond.
Wow, I said. “Um …that was a pretty extreme
reaction, no? They must really fear EnderStar.
Seconds later, a blaze appeared. Gzzzzt?! Www-w-
what?! Bgzzzt!! A-a-are?! Gzrrg!! Y-y-ou …?!”
I stepped forward, about to say something. I didn’t
need to, though. Not this time. The blaze was very
confused by the sight of me. So bewildered, in fact,
that it began trembling in the air, made a weird
sputtering noise, and flew off while spinning around and
gurgling—its direction and angle changing randomly as
it did.
I watched the blaze disappear into the gloom
overhead. Do I really look that weird? The sputtering
sound eventually faded completely.
Then I heard a voice in the distance.
Eeebs?!
There he was, gliding through the air.
Clyde! What are you doing here?! I’ve been
looking everywhere for you!
Oh, Eeebs. I’m so sorry. I . . .”
Did you really join their army?
Yes,he said. But I only joined because I was looking for
you, too! I didn’t know how to go to the Overworld and
was too scared to go there alone.
I felt so relieved. Of course. I knew Clyde wouldn’t
actually join them.
We have to get out of here, I said. Everyone keeps
freaking out when they see me.
Clyde nodded. Ill say! A blaze just flew past me,
upside down!
We heard a faint boom off in the distance, as though the
blaze had crashed into a wall and exploded.
Batwing winced.Poor guy. Anyway, let’s get out of
here. More monsters will show up any minute.
Hes right,” Clyde said. Let’s go.
Long story short, I finally caught up with Clyde again.
We made it out of the nether fortress without much
trouble.
The Overworld is in danger,Clyde said, once we
were in the clear.EnderStar is gearing up for something
big. Much bigger than we thought. Not even the
Nether will be safe.
About that, Batwing said. You two seem like cool mobs.
I’d like to introduce you to my friends.
Fine by me, I said. As long as they won’t do
something crazy upon seeing me like turn into a baby
slime.
I didn’t know it then, but Batwing was about to show us
what I now consider to be the coolest place in the
Nether.
During our trip to see Batwing’s friends, the wither skeleton
did something strange. He retrieved a purple rock
from somewhere I couldn’t see.
That’s a strange-looking rock,I said.
Its not a rock. It’s a crystal. And it’s called a
tellstone.
What does it do?
It can be used to send messages to other people.
Even people who are far away. Even people you don’t
really know. You can speak with them in their
dreams.
How is that possible?
I don’t know. Magic. Anyway, it isn’t working properly. I
was only able to contact two villagers.
Can we speak to them now?” I asked.
Hmmmaybe. Lets try.
Batwing held the crystal closer so that I could see.
Nah. Maybe they’re not sleeping right now.… Oh, wait!
Guess they are.
The face of a villager boy appeared in the crystal. It
was the strangest thing I’d ever seen.
The villagers voice seemed to resound from within the
tellstone:
As if my dreams aren’t bad enough. Now I get to listen
to this bonehead talk in that scratchy, gravelly
voice of his.
Batwing moved the crystal closer and began speaking into
it.
Bonehead? I’m not the one who just bombed three
tests! Hey, I’m sorry, all right? Hey! Don’t shut me out,
kid! Look, Im not going to ask you to save me! Someone
else already did!
Then the wither skeleton extended his arm to move the
crystal farther away from us.
When he did, the villager boy seemed shocked. It was
like he really could see me somehow.
Don’t look at them like that! Batwing said, speaking
into the crystal once more.They’re not monsters! Well,
okay, they are monsters, and so am I, but we’re
good! We’re not like the rest! We’ve made a whole
city by ourselves! A city of good monsters, hidden from all
the bad ones! By the way, this is Eeebs. He won’t
bite. Promise! Oh, and that’s Clyde over there. Both
of them are really nice!
He said a lot more to the villager
(advice of some kind),
but I’ve already forgotten it.
After walking across countless hills and following Batwing
through an enormous cave, I finally saw it:
Lavacrest.
The city of good monsters, hidden deep within a
netherrack mountain.
Vast streets of nether brick stretched endlessly.
Blocks of glowstone sat upon posts of nether-brick fence.
Countless iron doors led to shops, homes, and even
schools where monsters could study various crafts,
like mining and enchanting.
Every monster imaginable could be seen here, even
some not native to this dimension, such as
endermen and witches. They had traveled here to learn
more about magic. Magic …that was something I was
totally unaware of, until today.
Witches, huddled in groups outside, were uttering
strange words. White glyphs hovered in the air before
them.
What are they doing?I asked.
Casting a protective spell, Batwing said.I forgot the
name.
Reinforce,Clyde said. “They’re enchanting the
city’s blocks to be more resistant to explosions.
There’s even a spell that can make a block impossible
to mine,Batwing said. “It’s pretty high-level, though,
and consumes a diamond upon casting.”
As we wandered the streets, with me staring in awe,
Clyde and Batwing went on about the many block
enchantment spells. One spell, Spike Growth,
caused a block to grow spikes on each of its sides,
damaging anyone touching it or walking across its surface
—much like cactus. First Burst acted like a trap:
Anyone stepping on it caught fire. There was also a
lightning-based version, known simply as Zap. Another,
Frost Aura, provided a slowing effect.
Kind of like soul sand,Clyde said. “Except it also
makes you attack slower.”
Soul sand?
Batwing sighed. That sand you saw in the nether
fortress.”
In addition to block enchantment spells there were spells
that created new types of blocks, such as Shadow
Block. After casting this spell, you chose a material
sand, cobblestone, netherrack, anythingand a block of
that type would appear. This block, although appearing
real in every way, was something called an illusion.”
You could walk through it as easily as walking through
air.
We’re about to place these blocks across the cave
entrance leading to this city,” Batwing said. That way,
EnderStar’s soldiers will never find this place.
Don’t you need a bat’s wing to cast that one? Clyde
asked.
Batwing nodded. Yeah. We really need to head to the
Overworld and go bat hunting.
Another spell was called Light Block. It created a
block of intense white light, which could be walked
through. However, standing within such a block was like
standing in sunlight.
A more powerful version of the spell, Concentrated
Light Block, was twice the normal strength of
sunlight, meaning it would burn monsters to a crisp.
We gure a wall of light blocks might be useful against
a zombie horde,Batwing said.Sadly, both versions of
Light Block require emeralds to cast.”
And then there was Mud Aspect, which gave a
block mud-like consistency. Anyone stepping into it
would slowly sink down. Their movement speed would be
decreased as well, although not as much as the effect
Frost Aura provided.
Needless to say, Slime Aspect gave any block the
properties of slime, meaning it could be used to bounce
upward.
But the most interesting, in my opinion, was
Teleporter Cube. I didn’t understand how it
worked, but Clyde said it could be used to travel vast
distances instantaneously.
Not a single monster in the city knows that spell,
Batwing said. Not even Greyfellow.
I blinked. Greyfellow?
For once, Batwing wasn’t annoyed at my cluelessness.
Hes the guy who runs this place.”
Hes also the guy we’re going to see, Clyde added.
I’m sure he must know more about your current
state.
Perhaps ten minutes later, we reached Greyfellows
home: a huge hut made of nether quartz. Batwing
increased his pace, muttering something to himself.
Clyde and I exchanged glances
and followed him in.
Greyfellow was an enderman.
He wasnt black, however, but light gray in color with
bright sky-blue eyes. In addition, he wore a fancy-looking
white hat, not unlike those typically worn by witches. He’s
known as an endermage, one of the last
enderman wizards in all of Minecraftia.
Where have you been? he said to Batwing.
Yeah, about that, Batwing said. Those bums stranded
me out there.
Oh?
Batwing withdrew the brilliant purple tellstone
from his inventory. And your little crystal didn’t work.”
What do you mean it didn’t work?
Well, I tried telling those villagers that the Overworld
is in danger. I begged them to set me free. The girl
just ignored me, and this little punk, Runt,
kept telling me to go away.
My apologies,” Greyfellow said. Villagers are a crude
folk. They can sometimes be uncouth. Interesting that
you werent able to contact anyone else, though. Hmm
Give me the tellstone.
Gladly. Take it.”
I shall craft you a new one later tonight,the
endermage said. He glanced at Clyde and me.And who are
your new friends?
Batwing introduced us, and the endermage noticed my
mark.Interesting. You come from the Overworld,
then? Yes. You were once a kitten. I can see that now.”
Do you know what happened to me?I asked.
I believe so. Although, I must consult the ancient
texts. Go now. Eat. Sleep. In the morning, we shall
speak again.”
Before long, I’d eaten three cooked salmon
and was curled up next to a burning block of netherrack.
How these monsters got ahold of salmon, I didn’t know
and didn’t ask.
Magic, probably.
Yawn. Maybe they can conjure food as well as blocks?
As I dozed o,
I started purring.
That morning, I met up with the gray enderman again.
He told me a lot of stu and showed me this huge,
ancient book.
He let me borrow it, so I’m going to copy some of it
down.
***
THE PROPHECY OF MINECRAFTIA,
VOLUME I
And so shall it be: In these perilous times, two
Saviors shall descend from the Sacred Light and
drive the Veil of Darkness to each corner of the
world.
One Savior shall take the form of a young Human
man—KOLB. He represents all that is Earthly and
Known. The other shall arrive in the form of a young
Sylph woman of most enchanting beauty—IONE.
She represents the Unearthly, the Unknown.
Alas, our Saviors walk a difficult path, for their
Divine Weapons, forged by the White Shepherd and
blessed with Sacred Light, were all but destroyed
during the Second War. Only when their shards have
been reunited can each Weapon be fully re-forged.
In addition to our Saviors,ve Beings shall be
Chosen by the Light:
1. A villager displaying incredible creativity and
insight, with compassion for all life. He shall
take up the sword and become not only a
Warrior but a supreme Tactician without equal.
Although his power comes from within, the
Sacred Light shall assist him in the form of
Luck. He is a champion of the Overworld.
2. Three animals displaying the highest bravery in
the face of great danger and loyalty to their
friends. The gender and form of each animal are
Unknown. They shall be blessed with higher
intelligence and begin to take on the aspects of
monsters. The first of these Chosen Animals
shall seek to meet and serve the first Chosen
Being. These animals are champions of the
Nether.
3. The third Chosen Being is entirely Unknown,
although it is Known that this Being shall be
most bizarre in nature. He serves as a
champion of the End.
Know this: As the Darkness continues to spread
across our World, our Saviors must seek to reclaim
the fragments of their Divine Weapons, for these
blades are the only two Divine Weapons remaining
after the Second War. The rest, destroyed by the
Eyeless One, are lost for eternity.
Before all else, our Saviors shall head to the
Capital of our World, known as Aetheria City,
where they shall learn of past knowledge and train
themselves, for their energy will have diminished
during their journey.
Soon thereafter, the Great War shall begin between
the forces of Light and Darkness.
***
Okay. There’s much more to that book, but my head
hurts.
(My paw, too.)
In dark times, heroes from another world” will arrive
to ght against evil. Five beings from this world have been
selected as well.
I’m one of the animals mentioned. I’m supposed
to nd and serve the rst Chosen Being. A villager.
That means I need to return to the Overworld.
But that enderman wizard, Greyfellow, doesn’t want me
to. Not yet. He says I must learn more about my abilities
before I leave. I must become stronger.
We talked about this stuff all day. I’m really tired, now.
Talking in a non-cat language I’ve just learned is still
dicult for me, remember?
By the way, some of the monsters here really can
conjure food with magic. It’s so cool. All I have to
do is ask some witch or enderman for raw salmon. I can
cook it myself because I’ve been blessed with higher
intelligence, according to that old book. How cool is
that?! Meow!
Time for sleep.
My training” starts tomorrow.
Theyve found us! Theyve found us!
I woke up to a creeper wizard shouting these words. I
was still at Greyfellows house. When I walked outside, I
saw so many dierent monsters running around and
shouting.
From this crowd, Greyfellow and Batwing emerged. They
were holding on to a zombie pigman by each arm. He
seemed familiar somehow. But where could I have seen
him before?
We found him sneaking around just outside the city!”
Batwing said. Little snoop!
Clyde oated down to our level. “What are we going to do
with him?”
We’ll have to imprison him,Greyfellow said.If we let
him go, he’ll give EnderStar the location of our city.”
N-no,the pigman said. Me. Want. T-to
Shut it!Batwing said. “Youll say anything to get
away!”
A creeper shouted:Hisssss, me blow him up!
I say we throw him into the pit! a nearby witch
shouted. Thats the best way!
Yesh! Duh pit! Duh pit! After uttering these noises,
several zombie pigmen
(good ones, apparently?)
began
chanting:Duh pit! Duh pit! Duh pit!
Soon, hundreds of monsters joined in.
(However, most were shouting/chanting “the
pit” as
opposed to “duh pit.” Why do some speak differently?)
They’re right, Batwing said. There’s only one way we
deal with our enemies, and that’s tossing them in the
pit. A good dropkick from behind—not too hard, eh, a little
encouraging tap in the rear—and boom, one-way ticket to
another dimension. Suddenly, our problem is no longer
our problem, just breakfast for some hungry Void
beast.
A tear ran down Clyde’s cheek. He spun around. No!
What are you saying?! We can’t do that! If we do, well
be just as bad as EnderStar!” He paused.Wait. Um …
guys? What’s the pit?
Oh. Okay. So that’s the pit.”
Some say it goes on forever, but Greyfellow told me the
truth: It actually reaches the Void.
When you fall in, you’ll fall for quite a long way. But
after some 6,570 blocks, you’ll eventually arrive in a
bizarre world. A world of eternal night containing
crystalline plants, lakes of glowing blue ooze,
invisible things brushing past you and whispering into
your ear, and, yes, horrifying monsters.
At least, that’s what Greyfellow told me when I asked
him about it. Maybe he’s just trying to scare me?
He also said a race of peaceful mushroom
people live there, who know about such things as
advanced crafting” and advanced
brewing.” Whatever that means.
Anyway, thirty minutes later, over one thousand
monsters were standing around this seemingly
bottomless hole that may or may not have led to a place
one thousand times crazier than the Nether.
The prisoner was standing on the very edge, his back
turned to us. Batwing was right behind him.
Just say the word, Greyfellow, and I’ll dropkick this
punk into a brand-new dimension!
P-please, the pigman said. “Me. No. B-b-b …b b-
bad.
The endermage closed his eyes for what must have been
several minutes.
Ghast tears were running down Clyde’s cheeks, and
two witches were now trying to collect them.
I stared at the pigman the whole time.
Now where have I
seen him before? That thing on his head. I saw a pigman
wearing one of those before.
Wait a second! He was the guy leading all the other
monsters in the Overworld after EnderStar teleported away.
He was the smart one, the zombie pigman who could
actually talk.
What’s his name again?
Rarg? Yes! Rarg, the zombie pigman captain!
Very well,” Greyfellow said at last. I have decided that—”
No!I shouted. I walked up to Rarg and turned to the
other monsters.Wait! I’ve seen this pigman before!”
What? In the nether fortress?Batwing said.So what?
In the Overworld,I said. “I watched from a distance
as EnderStar’s army panicked, blinded by sunlight.
They had no idea how bright the sun can be.
What’s your point?Greyfellow said.
Well, while I was watching them, I sensed
something good in this pigman. Since he was
wearing that thing on his head, he was the only one
who wasn’t blinded. He helped his fellow monsters return to
the Nether by singing a song so that they could follow
him.
The endermage nodded. “I see, I see. Hmm . . . wearing a
helmet, yes. So, he’s quite smart. Hmm.”
Not only that,” I said, “I could somehow sense that he
didn’t want to be there. Didn’t want any part of attacking
the Overworld. He kept hesitating whenever EnderStar
spoke to him.”
Cmon!Batwing said. “You know we can’t do anything
but give this guy a good kick! He’ll give away our
location if we don’t!”
Quiet,Greyfellow said. He walked up to Rarg.
Pigman. Is it true? Do you really wish to abandon
EnderStar’s army and join us?”
Y-yes, Rarg said. “Me tired of boss man. And me
have many friends also tired of boss man. Boss man always
screaming. Always want us do bad thing. We don’t
want do bad thing.”
Then why didn’t you leave before? Greyfellow asked.
We scared. Boss man make fire from no fire. Boss
man make white zap light from no white zap light. Boss
man also turn three me friend into flying black
squeaky thing. Then he eat flying black squeaky
thing. Me so sad. Me so angry. When me see ying
black squeaky thingme remember. Me cry. Me want
help beat him.
Flying black squeaky thing?Batwing facepalmed. This
is like talking to that kitten! Can you make sense,
please?
He means bats,I said.
Oh. Right.”
I’m no wizard, but I believe theres only one spell that can
turn someone into a bat, Clyde said.
Yes.” Greyfellows expression grew even more serious.
Polymorph III. This is bad news indeed. He’s
much more powerful than we thought.”
Why don’t we let Rarg join us, then?Clyde asked.If
he really does want out of EnderStar’s army, he can tell us
everything he knows!”
Not a bad idea, Greyfellow said. He may also
convince his friends to switch sides and join us.”
Batwing facepalmed again. “Man, don’t you guys know
anything? We cant take any chances! Listen, I’m a
wither skeleton, okay? I grew up in that nether fortress. I
used to be a bad mob. I know what bad mobs think. And
here’s what bad mobs think: bad things. EnderStar
probably sent him here and told him to say all of that
stuff. And, once we nally start trusting him and let him
stay here and feed him mushrooms and slimeball
stew and the many other nasty things his kind eats,
he’ll learn everything about us, go back to the nether
fortress, and squeal like a …um pigman?
The other monsters seemed divided. Some nodded
their heads in agreement with Greyfellow and Clyde, and
others were thinking along the same lines as Batwing. It was
a situation stickier than any slime.
Then Rarg held out a stack of ender pearls.Me.
G-g-g g-g . . .
Give?I asked.
Y-yes. Me g-give.
W-where did you get those?!” Batwing cried out.
Me grab green things. From big red house. Me g-g
give you. Okay?
Interesting,Greyfellow said, taking the stack of ender
pearls. First the kitten, and now this.
Rarg then held out a stack of gold bars.Shiny
thing. Me also take these. Boss man shiny pile. Boss man
have many shiny things in shiny pile.
He dropped the stack on to the ground, then he retrieved a
stack of shiny green rocks from his inventory and
threw them onto the ground as well. Many monsters
gasped.
So many emeralds!
This was followed by at least fifty dierent glass things
lled with water. Although, the water inside wasn’t blue but
purple, red, and green.
Potions, too?!
Boss man tell me, always watch bottle things. Make
sure no monster take bottle things. Why bottle things so
important? Me wonder. But secret. Me try drinking bottle
thing once. Me jump very high.He chuckled. “Me
like bottle things.
An unbelievable amount of items formed a pile at
Rarg’s big boots.
There were several books, like the one I’m currently writing
in. Except, they shimmered purple. Was that due to
magic?
Enchanting books?!a few monsters
exclaimed.
Rarg also threw down a pile of shiny whitish-blue
rocks. Those are called diamonds, apparently.
Boss man say shiny rock most good, Rarg said. “No
eat shiny rock. Shiny rock hard. But shiny rock make good
stab thing. Shiny rock also make good body thing, like on
head or feet.”
Around me, the excitement of the other monsters
lled the air. They kept chattering away about emeralds,
diamonds, enchanted books, potions.
Okay. Very last thing. Shiny metal. I nd in wood box.
Boss man say this junk. But me think so pretty.
Rarg the zombie pigman withdrew another rock from his
inventory. Wait, no? It wasn’t a rock. It was a piece of
metal? It was bright silver and shimmered many
different colors. It was so beautiful. The most
common color by far was this dazzling shade of
green.
Unbelievable,Greyfellow said.I don’t believe
this is . . . quite surely, it can’t be. My fellow
monsters, we are looking at a shard. One of the
seven shards of Critbringer.
Everyone fell silent, and then:
Huh?
Shard?
Critbringer?
What are you talking about, Greyfellow?
It looks like a piece of metal to me.
It is a piece of metal,” Greyfellow said. But not iron.
That is adamant, a metal so rare in our time that
it was thought to exist only in legend.
I remembered the old book Greyfellow had let me borrow.
…Divine Weapons …all but destroyed during the
Second War. Only when their shards have been
reunited can each Weapon be fully re-forged.
You mean, this is from one of the sharp sticks mentioned
in the book?I said. The swords, I mean.”
Exactly! Greyfellow said.
The other monsters didn’t seem to understand. They
looked at each other with total confusion in their square
eyes.
The gray enderman scowled at them. Fools! Have
none of you read of the Prophecy?! This piece of metal is
a fragment from the legendary sword
Critbringer! A sword forged in ancient times, when
monsters far more powerful than any of you roamed in
great number! Back then, weapons had to be strong enough
for land wyrms, lurkers, and other horrific beasts
you cannot possibly imagine! This is one of the only
weapons still in existence powerful enough to harm
the Eyeless One, whose real name I shall not
utter here!”
Lurkers? Batwing sighed. Are those the giant black
squid-like things with one thousand tentacles and a
single huge purple eye? The ones that live deep
underground? The reason why certain mineshafts are
abandoned? The monsters that reduce the durability of
your items with a single glance? I thought those things were
just a legend.He shrugged. Huh. Who knew?
Fool!Greyfellow grabbed the shard and turned to
Rarg.I can see now that destiny has brought you to us.
The enderman addressed the entire crowd:No harm shall
come to this pigman! Free him at once and see to it that
he is introduced to our city!” He sighed. “I must go
now. I have much work to do. Kitten, come.
Rarg turned to me.Thank you, blue fuzz thing. You
help me. Me so happy. You me friend now?
Yes,” I said to Rarg. Me you friend now.
Breathe! the endermage shouted. Breathe!!
I’m breathing,I said. Im breathing! But as you
can see, your Grand High Endermage-
ness, no reballs are coming out!”
Try harder!
Breathe, breathe, breathe.
Nothing. Just little pus of air.
We were back at Greyfellow’s place. The endermage was
trying to teach me how to use monster abilities.
As I exhaled over and over, a non-zombied pigman
who stood nearby saw me and started doing the same.
Moments later:O’gorg! Me pants-pants heavy now. I go
bathroom now-now.”
Leave us at once! the endermage shouted.
The pigman left.Clyde! Clyde! Oh, where did that silly
ghast run o to?!”
I’m here! the ghast called out. “What’s the
problem?
Do you see that wall of obsidian? Greyfellow asked.
Breathe a fireball on it!”
Can you stop shouting?
Now!!
As commanded, the ghast drew in a deep breath, and
whoosh!—spit out a large reball. It hit the obsidian
wall nearby without any real effect.
Now do it again! Keep doing it!
One after another, I watched Clyde spit fireballs at the
obsidian wall. Good! the enderman said. “Now, kitten.
You try.
Sure thing.”
Breathe! Breathe! Breathe!
Pretty pathetic. Not even a pu of smoke.
You aren’t trying hard enough!” Greyfellow shouted.
Try!!
I am trying!” I shouted.
Try harder!!
I am!!
There’s a large chance your homeworld is going to be
destroyed, kitten! Do you understand?!
I hissed.Hey! Stop freaking out, okay?! For the past
hour it’s beenJump here! Swim in that lava over
there! Go invisible! Magically spit out reballs as if
you’re a—’”
Suddenly, my whole body shook.
Cough, hack.
Ahackckahackahack.
Hackhackhackackackkkkkkkkk.
What’s wrong with me? This is so painful! It’s like
coughing up a hairball but ten times worse!
I coughed up a fireball instead. It was a tiny thing,
maybe ten times the size of a spark. It flew out of my mouth
and wobbled through the air. There was a sad little sound
as it did: ptweeeeeeeeeeee.
This tiny reball, ying so slowly
(slower than a zombie
pigman walking)
slowed down even more the more it flew
toward the wall. It continued making that little noise:
eeeeee.
We all watched as it continued to y forward
pathetically. It literally took twenty seconds to travel a
distance of nine blocks. Finally, there was a slight
sputtering sound as it hit the wall and vanished.
I coughed again. A little puff of smoke came out. For a
long time afterward: silence.
I looked at Clyde. Clyde looked at the enderman. The
enderman looked at me. I looked at the enderman. The
enderman looked at Clyde. Clyde looked at me. Then we
all looked at the small obsidian wall my tiny little
fireball had struck.
I don’t believe it,” Greyfellow said. The
Prophecy! It really is true!
Clyde started spinning around frantically. So cool,
Eeebs! Wow! I knew you could do it!”
Yeah, yeah, not bad, kid! Batwing was standing in
the doorway, now. “So, you’re some kind of mutant,
huh?
Moments later, I heard a familiar voice. A girls
voice. Most of all, it was the voice of a kitten.
Hey?! Eeebs?! What was that?!
Tufty and Meowz were also standing in the doorway.
My friends from the Overworld. Strangely,
although I recognized them, they no longer looked like
kittens. Not really.
Big claws.
Ridiculously long ears.
As a matter of fact, and, as strange as it
sounds,
well they almost kind of looked like
me.
Yesterday, I breathed fire.
At the same time, my friends showed up, Tufty and
Meowz. They were pretty much in the same boat as I
was several days ago: clueless.
They still resembled their former selves. Tufty was still
orange-ish. Meowz was still mostly white. However, they
looked scary now. Like an-enderman-staring-at-you-in-a-
totally-dark-room-making-weird-little-noises-with-only-its-
glowing-purple-eyes-being-visible scary. Actually, worse
than that. Like my-mom-calling-me-by-my-full-name-
and-threatening-to-make-me-eat-puersh-casserole-for-a-
week scary or human-trying-to-tame-me-with-a-pumpkin-
instead-of-a-sh scary.
Meowz crept into the house.Eeebs?
Tufty followed her in with his tail between his legs.
The endermage, Greyfellow, nearly fainted upon
seeing them. He turned to Batwing. I can’t … I don’t …
what is happening, Batwing? Yesterday, everything was so
normal. I was drinking some redstone tea, thinking
about what to craft. Then this kitten shows up with the
mark. Then a zombie pigman not only joins our side but
hands over EnderStars treasure horde.
Then, the kitten actually breathesre. I’d never believed
in the Prophecy myself!
Did you? And now two of his friends arrive, apparently
Chosen as well.…”
He trailed o and appeared to be looking at something
far away.
Batwing sighed. Three kittens as Chosen Animals.
Why couldn’t it have been something way more crazy,
like a chicken and a donkey? A bat and a cow?
I was hoping for a squid and a pig!” Clyde said. “I read
about squids, once.
Anything but three kittens.The wither skeleton
nudged Greyfellow.
The endermage mumbled absently, still staring ahead: “I
like redstone tea … andkittens three kittens
what does it mean … ?
So, these are your friends, Eeebs?Clyde
smiled. Well, he didn’t, really, but he didn’t sniffle or
anything like that, and his frown vanished. That’s pretty
much like smiling for a ghast.
Yes,I said, approaching Tufty and Meowz.
We came across the witch, Meowz said. She told us
everything.”
We didn’t believe her when she said we could use the
abilities of monsters,Tufty said. Its true,
though. This is so cool! How can I breathe re like that?
You guys really shouldn’t have followed me,I said.
Really. You don’t know what you’ve gotten yourselves
into.
Meowz looked like she was about to cry. Eeebs?
Yeah.
What’s happening?
About that,
purrrr
…”
I tried telling them about the Prophecy, and I
showed them Greyfellow’s book. It was hard for me to
explain everything to them, and the endermage wouldn’t
chime in and help me out. He just kept babbling on
about redstone tea: how he liked it warm although not too
warm, how he added some crushed ower petals like
blue orchids to the recipe to make it taste better, how he
thought it further improved the taste and added more
kick” when he made it using a brewing stand instead of a
crafting table.
I turned to the endermage.Hey? Greyfellow? Who
wrote this book, anyway?
… its the bubbling process,he mumbled.A brewing
stand aerates the tea, providing a more crisp and
refreshing avor.…”
My ears and tail lowered, I started thinking that after
learning how to spit fireballs, my next power was going
to be to shoot smoke out of my ears.
Right,I said. Forget about who wrote it, then. What I
really mean to ask is, how did they know all of this stuff was
going to happen? How did they know three animals
would be changed?
Greyfellow nodded. “Why, yespink tulip certainly
tastes better than oxeye daisy, yesyes, indeed.…”
Um, what’s wrong with him?” Batwing said.
Clyde shrugged. Well, Clyde has no shoulders—he’s just
a giant white block with a face, really—but, anyway, for
some reason I felt that he shrugged. Too much has
happened today.”
You could say that.” The wither skeleton glanced out the
window. “I’ll go check on Rarg and see if he’s okay. Listen,
Eeebs. Why don’t you hold off on telling your friends about
the Prophecy till our endermage friend here isn’t
bumbling around like a land squid? In the
meantime, you can show your friends around the city.
Cool?
Sure,I said, glancing at the two nether kittens.Shall
we?”
The three of us left Greyfellow’s hut. I didn’t freak out at
the sight of my friends, not even then. I was still so
shocked by everything. I was about to join the
endermage. If just one more crazy thing had happened,
I’d have started mumbling about pufferfish cookies:
how to align the eggs, milk, and sugar pixel by pixel on
the crafting table in a purrfect way to achieve a ve-star
rating from the International Minecraftian
Bakers Society, in not only consistency but also
form and texture, the lightness of the bread, crisp yet
never crumbling, with each tiny cube of sugar and baked
puersh spread evenly throughout the biscuits to achieve
a pastry both magnicent to the eye and simply
bursting with flavor.
But then I wasn’t sure if the International
Minecraftian Bakers Society had such a
rened taste as a nether kitten’s, and soon I began to
wonder whether any of them would appreciate the
elegance of a cookie made of equal parts sugar and fish.
Speaking of Greyfellow.
(Wait
I wasn’t speaking of him. Whatever.)
Anyway, here are a few drawings of his house.
Well, I showed my friends around Good Mob City.
We didn’t talk much, though. They were just as silent as
me.
I mean, all of this stuff has happened so fast. Just a week
ago, we were playing hide-and-seek. Now, we’re nothing
like our former selves. We’re supposed to help save the
world.
An hour or so later we headed back to the gray enderman.
He’d nally calmed down a little.
Sorry about that,” he said. I just couldn’t believe it. Still
can’t. The Prophecy really is true?! Which means
our world is going to suffer through yet another Great
War.
What are we supposed to do?I asked, getting straight
to the point.
Hmm. First, let’s try something. Kittens, I want you to
think about the word ability.’ Or just imagine your
abilities in general. Picture them in your mind.
Tufty must have thought of his abilities rst.
Seconds after the endermage spoke, a gray screen
appeared before the orange nether kitten. This screen was
completelyat, two-dimensional, and seemed to be
made out of colored light.
Wow! Meowz waved a paw through Tufty’s screen,
and it passed through without any resistance.What is
that thing?
Those screens are called visual enchantments,
the enderman said. They can be used to interact with
objects or your inventory, or they can simply display
data.
And what are abilities?Tufty asked.
All monsters have abilities,Greyfellow said.Creepers
move silently. Endermen teleport. Zombies break
down doors. Of course, you kittens have more
abilities than any normal mob.”
I tried to concentrate on the word ability.
A screen appeared before me as well.
The enderman then told us that we could either touch
an ability’s name on the screen or focus on it with our
mind to access another screen. This screen would tell us
more about that specific ability.
When I batted at the words Obsidian Fur with a paw,
the words upon the screen changed to:
If you want to go back to the rst screen,Greyfellow
said, “just concentrate on that word. Back.’ Or you could
speak it out loud.
I tried the latter. Back.
The visual enchantment screen returned to its former
state.
Interesting.Touching the screen with her paws,
Meowz began browsing through all of her abilities.
I did the same, pawing down the list, accessing each sub-
menu, reading it, and saying the word back” in my
mind each time.
Heres a full list of my abilities:
(I’m guessing “INT” means intelligence? I have no idea
what “AI” means and neither does Greyfellow.)
The endermage said an ability’s level is a measure of how
powerful it is. So, most of my abilities are still pretty
weak. But they won’t be like that forever!
By the way, energy is used for abilities,” the
enderman said. Spells, too. Using abilities and casting
spells drain your energy bar. That’s why Eeebs
could breathe only one reball yesterday and only pus of
smoke afterward. Energy slowly recharges over time.
So its best to use your abilities only when you
absolutely need them. Like most monsters, you
have a maximum of 100 energy.
How do we know how much energy we currently have?”
Tufty asked.
That’s the yellow bar in your HUD, or heads-up
display. Simply concentrate upon the word HUD in
your mind, and it will appear across the bottom of your
vision. If you are injured, hungry, drained of energy, or
debued in any way, your HUD will automatically
appear, as a kind of reminder, until your condition
improves.
Okay, lets try it: HUD.
As soon as I thought this, a bunch of stuff appeared
across the bottom of my vision, just like the enderman had
described.
The hearts are a measure of your life force,
Greyfellow said. “Each heart represents two hit points.
By the way, Im curious. How many hearts do you have?”
Each of us replied with the same number:
Ten!
Twenty hit points, then. Not much. You’ll gain
much more as you grow stronger, though.”
What about the gray shirt things? I asked, not
wanting to think about what would happen if all of my
hearts were removed.
That’s a visual indicator of your protection, otherwise
known as armor. The more armor you have, the less
damage you will take. Some forms of damage bypass
armor, however.”
How about the boxes?
Your hotbar. You can secure items to your body—with
the help of a belt, for example—or in an easy-to-reach
location in your inventory. You may then access those
items quickly.
All three nether kittens exchanged glances:
Inventory?
The enderman then explained how we each have an
extra-dimensional space” that lets us carry many
items. We only have to say inventory in our minds for
the inventory screen to appear. That must be how Batwing
withdrew the tellstone from what looked like thin air:
He accessed his inventory.
Your inventories are currently quite small,
Greyfellow said. “You can increase the size of your inventory
by wearing a container, like a belt pouch. There are even
enchanted containers that dramatically increase
your inventory space. Sadly, such items, enchanted or not,
won’t be easy for kittens to wear. They aren’t normally
designed for animals. An easy way around that, if you felt
the need to carry many items, would be to level-up your
Pack Beast ability.”
Tufty blinked. “Um, can you repeat that? I’m
totally confused.
Same here,I said. “I guess that means we
really need to level-up our Higher Intelligence
ability, huh?
After we played around with our visual
enchantment screens, a question spawned in my mind.
Say, how do we get stronger, anyway? And how can
our abilities gain levels?
The enderman gave me a strange look. All of his
expressions were strange, really, but his expression then was
as if I’d just asked why zombie pigmen are purple and have
ice cream cones for heads.
By doing your job, he said.
And that is?”
Turning Herobrine’s and EnderStars minions into
clouds of smoke. Every time you defeat one, you’ll absorb
some of its power. Of course, you’ll also grow stronger by
questing.
Questing ?
Before anyone could even ask for clarification, more
screens appeared before us.
Like with the ability screens, simply thinking about the
word quest” conjured what could be called a quest
screen”:
Sadly, Tufty and Meowz had dierent messages on their
quest screens.
What does all of this mean?! Tufty said. Its so
weird!
I have to agree,Meowz said.I’m so confused I could
hiss! It’s not fair, you know? We’ve been chosen to help
save the world, and all this new stu is being thrown at
us, and we don’t even get classes or something?
It does seem an awful lot has been thrust upon you
kittens,Greyfellow said. A heavy burden, indeed.
I am doing my best to teach you, but there are many
things I do not know. Eeebs, I do suggest returning to the
Overworld as soon as you can. Once there, the first place
you should head to is the capital. Ask around for the
Library. One of my colleagues there knows much
about the Prophecy and may be able to help you locate
that villager.
As he said this, I tried piecing everything
together in my mind.
1. We’re supposed to help fight against the Eyeless
One, otherwise known as Herobrine.
2. We’ve been given abilities, and we have these
things called quests—tasks we’re supposed to
complete.
3. My rst quest is meeting up with that villager. A
villager I don’t know anything about. Is it a boy or a
girl? What’s his or her name? Why do I have to
serve that villager, anyway? What, am I just a pack
kitten or something? I thought my role in all this
would be a bit more glamorous than that.
My friends really have to stay here?I asked.
I believe so. Your quests were given to you by the
Immortals themselves. It would be wise to follow
them.
That’s not fair! Meowz said. “I don’t want to stay
here anymore!”
You can’t be serious,Tufty said. “We can
learn more about our powers! How cool is that?
Besides, don’t you want to help save the world?
Yeah, it’s just I already miss my family.”
At least you don’t have to go into the Overworld alone,I
said, looking like this.I turned to the enderman.
What about Clyde? Can he go with me?
The endermage avoided my gaze.Well, I … um … it’s not
exactly written in the Prophecy. Plus, I’m not sure
whether a ghast could even survive in the Overworld for
any length of time.
Oh, man.
I didn’t want to be a hero anymore. Not without him.
How could I leave my best buddy behind? I’d just
caught up with him again!
There has to be a way, I said. “I really want Clyde to go
with me. He’s so smart. Besides, I know he’ll want to.”
Its up to him,” Greyfellow said.I will warn you that
constant exposure to sunlight could weaken him,
possibly even kill him.
Maybe he’s right,Meowz said. Once you return to the
Overworld, you’re going to scare enough people as it is. A
huge ghast oating behind you certainly won’t help any.”
What will Clyde do once I tell him he can’t go with me?
I
thought.
Maybe it’s for the best. The witches seem to
like ghast tears, and after I tell Clyde that he can’t tag
along, their inventories will be overflowing with them.
There’s one more thing I’d like to try,” the enderman
said. Please follow me.
To our complete amazement, Greyfellow then
whirled aroundand stepped into the back wall
of his house!
Tufty and Meowz had no idea what was going on. But I’d
heard about shadow blocks and remembered how you
could walk through them. In other words, the
endermage was taking us to his secret chamber.
Now, I’d never really met a wizard before. At this point,
I had no idea that most wizards even had something called
secret chambers,” much less how cool
secret chambers might actually be.
I saw a lot of new stu today and learned a lot of new
words. Such as brewing stand. And anvil. And
crafting table. And enchantment table.
This is called a rune chamber,the enderman said.
Do you know what it does?
I glanced at the giant silvery box. Even though it
didn’t look all that scary, it scared me all the same.
Errr, no?”
Tufty wasn’t scared, though. He immediately zoomed
inside. Is this like a house? he asked, sning the silvery
material.
Meowz ran inside as well. Wow,she said, lifting up
her paws, as if the silver material
(“iron,”
I learned later)
was
painful to the touch.
She left the box as quickly as she’d entered. “It’s
freezing in there!”
Indeed it is, the enderman said. It contains a most
powerful form of magic. Only three wizards in
all of Minecraftia know how to create such a device.
What does it do?I asked.
It makes you stronger, he said. “Stronger than you
already are, I mean.”
Stronger than I already am? Even if I didn’t know how it
made me stronger, it sounded good to me. Is there any
downside to having more super powers? Basically
no.
A rune chamber can permanently enchant an
animal or monster,he said,granting them additional
strength, defense, and so on.”
What’s ‘enchant? Meowz asked.
The enderman shook his head. Sorry. Not enchant.
Enchanting is more for items, physical objects. The technical
term is enhance.’ A rune chamber can be used to
enhance you. But let’s just call it enchanting to make things
easier.
Tufty stepped out of the rune chamber, shivering.S-so,
it m-makes us more p-powerful?
Yes. And I would like to see whether it’s possible to affect
Chosen Animals.Greyfellow’s eyes glowed more
brightly as he glanced at us. Are any of you willing to serve
as mytest subject?
Three little paws ew into the air at the same time.
Me!
  Me!”
“Me!”
Tufty lumbered toward the chamber again, but Meowz
grabbed his tail.I called it rst! she hissed.
He grumbled. “Whatever. Don’t freeze your tail off, huh?
With a smirk, the white nether kitten zoomed into
the rune chamber.How long do I have to wait in here?”
Not too long.As the enderman said this, a gray
window appeared in the air before him. It contained many
boxes. In one box was an image of Meowz.
He placed a blue cube into one of the boxes.That’s called
lapis lazuli,he said. It’s used for this type of thing.”
The cube disappeared, and aat image of the cube
appeared in the box.
Almost done,he said.The process should take only a
few seconds.”
Suddenly, there was a bright white flash from inside
the chamber. Meowz made the biggest and most terrified-
sounding screech before jumping out.
Mreeeeeeeeeeew! What was that?!“
Greyfellow smiled.That was you being enchanted.
Really? I dont feel any dierent.” A screen appeared
before her moments later.
Look,” Tufty said. Your claws are kind of purple
now.
Meowz held out one of her paws. Indeed, her black claws
had a faint violet glow, just like the books Rarg
had dropped earlier.
In addition, faint little shapes, almost like weird-
looking letters, could be seen upon the surface of her claws.
They were also violet, slightly brighter than the glow itself.
This means I can do more damage?she asked.
A little,Greyfellow said. Rend I isn’t very powerful.
Sadly, you’re not strong enough for anything beyond that.
Greyfellow turned back to the chamber.
“Okay. Who’s next?
(10 minutes later …)
So, Ive been modified with Rend I.
Every bit helps, right?
It feels kind of girly having glowing purple claws, but
whatever. I don’t care if my entire body turns bright
pink, so long as it means I no longer have to run from
wolves.
The rest of the day was spent training. After Tufty and
Meowz coughed up their own ghast fireballs, we inched
silently across soul sand like creepers, climbed
up netherrack walls like spiders, sprinted like
zombie pigmen, placed a few items in our
inventories, and then swam in that orange re stuff—err,
lava—for over an hour.
There’s a huge lake of that stuff in the center of the city.
The mobs often go swimming there. They call it apool.
And today, that lava pool was filled with hundreds of
monsters—a pool party.”
Swimming in lava was so terrifying at first! It took me
ten minutes before I could dip one of my paws in. But it
didn’t burn. Didn’t even hurt! Lava is like warm water to
me now.
(I still haven’t tried drinking it yet. That’s on my to-do list.)
By the way, Batwing is immune to lava, too! So, I didn’t
even need to save him! But he’s terrified of swimming
Greyfellow actually had to push him in.
Clyde was swimming, too.
Yeah, I haven’t told him yet. I keep thinking about
how I can say it without hurting his feelings.
I know he’ll want to go with me, and I want him to
come too, but … I don’t want him to get hurt. I remember
what the sun did to the zombie pigmen and the blazes.
Maybe Clyde could wear a helmet? No, probably not.
Greyfellow could sense how I was feeling. He waded over
to me. “Still thinking about your friend, Eeebs?”
Yes. I’ll miss him. I’ll miss all of them. I’ll even miss
you. Thanks for teaching us.”
I’m glad I could help,the enderman said. Listen. Your
friend, Clyde. There is a way he could go with you.”
There is?
The enderman nodded.One of the enhancements that
rune chambers offer is Sunlight Protection. Shall we
ask him about this?”
I suppose,I said. But I want it to be his choice.
Of course. Also, I have something you’ll need for your
return to the Overworld.”
What is it?
I’ll show you tomorrow. I think you’ll like it.
The following morning, I was holding one of those bottle
things: a potion.
That’s a Potion of Disguise I,Greyfellow said.
Villager variant. Simply drink it and it will seem as though
you are an ordinary villager.”
Clyde stared at the red liquid contained within the
glass.Will Eeebs still be able to use his abilities?
Yes. Disguise is merely an illusion. Regardless of
which form you take, you’ll still be able to do everything you
could before. Go on, Eeebs. Don’t be afraid. Drink
up.
Whatever,I said. Here goes.
I chugged the potion. The taste yuck! It was like grass
mixed with cobblestone.
(Don’t ask how I know what those
taste like.)
Thin white smoke appeared all around me. To the
gasps of my friends, I glanced down at myself and found
pale skin and brown robes instead of dark blue fur.
The endermage smirked. Of course, you’ll need to
practice standing on your hind legs for the illusion to be
effective.
Right.”
I tried standing up but fell to all fours again.
Meowz began rolling around on the oor:Hahaha
that’s just wow, I cant.…”
Soon, what appeared to be a very real and ordinary
villager
(me)
stood before everyone. Although I was
wobbling around on my feet.
That potion has a duration of only one hour,the
endermage said,so I’ll brew half a stack for you.
Make sure to drink one before going into any town or village.
If you must remain there for any length of time, drink
another before the effects wear off.”
How will I know how much time I have left?I asked.
See that icon in the lower left corner of your vision?
Got it. Hey, what about Clyde?”
What about me? Clyde asked.
Oh, man. Batwing lowered his head.You mean, you
guys didn’t tell him yet?!”
Well, um
The ghast snied. Tell me what, Eeebs?”
I’m going to the Overworld,” I said. It’s part of my
quest.
A single tear fell down the ghast’s cheek. I see. So,
you’ll be gone for good?
No way, I said. Come on, Clyde. I’ll come back. The
Nether is just as much my home now as the Overworld is.
All right. Then I guess there’s no reason to be sad,
right?
If you want, you can come with me.
I can? How?
The enderman then chimed in with how it was possible to
protect him from sunlight. “It won’t make you
immune,he said, but you’ll be all right.
But it’s your choice,I said. “You have to decide for
yourself.
Then Im staying,Clyde said. “You know the
Overworld, Eeebs. It’s best for you to go alone. I’ll stay
here and help protect the city in case EnderStar finds
us.
Purrrrrrr.
That was way easier than I thought.
And Clyde was right. He would be way more useful
here. “You’re sure?I asked.
Denitely. I know we’ll meet again.”
And the ghast actually smiled. I mean actually
smiled. It was like seeing a flower growing in the
Nether.
I nodded.
“We will.
And so it seemed I was nally ready
to venture into the Overworld.
With Rarg’s assistance, the mobs here will try
recruiting mobs from the nether fortress and work on
defeating EnderStar.
I want to help with that, of course, but my destiny lies
elsewhere. Still, Greyfellow suggested that it might be
possible for the mobs here to join forces with villagers in the
Overworld. Together, we could take out EnderStar rst
then deal with Herobrine later.
That really depends on whether anyone in the Overworld
is willing to help,” Batwing said. “Seems unlikely. But
then, those villagers I spoke to were dierent from normal
villagers.
In what way?Greyfellow asked.
Seems like they’re training to be warriors. They
know how to wield swords, at least. In fact, they appear to
have helped fight off several large attacks.
Coordinated attacks?”
Batwing shrugged.If your little crystal was
accurate, then yes. The mobs were clearly working
together.”
So, the Eyeless One has already begun to amass
his army.”
The endermage nodded. This is no surprise.
We already know that the Prophecy is true. The Great
War will soon begin.”
Do you think it’s possible that one of those villagers is the
one mentioned in that book?Batwing asked.
Perhaps. Perhaps that is why you were able to speak
with them.”
Why two, though? I thought there was only one
Chosen Villager? Well, actually, no. Three. I spoke
with a third villager once. What was his name, again?
Pebble?
I don’t have any answer for that,the enderman said. “In
fact, there is much I do not know. The tome I have
regarding the Prophecy is incomplete. Many pages have
been removed.
One more thing,” Batwing said. Does the Eyeless
One know about tellstones?
I’m not sure,” the endermage said. Why do you ask?
Because that one villager, Pebble, said the Eyeless
One was speaking to him in his dreams. Told him
that Runt was a spy. A traitor. He appeared in
Pebble’s dreams at least ten times.
Why would Herobr—the Eyeless One take such an
interest in their village?”
The wither skeleton shrugged. Beats me. My only
guess is he’s aware of the Prophecy as well and
discovered the identity of the Chosen Villager.
Yes, I suppose you are correct. Hmm.
A villager, two kittens, and a ghast remained silent before
Batwing and Greyfellow, trying to understand these
mysteries.
Batwing seems to know a lot about what’s going on,
I
thought.
And he’s always talking to Greyfellow. He must be
really important?
As I listened, a realization suddenly hit me. If Batwing is
correct, then one of the villagers he spoke with is the
same villager I’m supposed to meet.
Breeze. Runt. Pebble. I’m writing these names
down here so I don’t forget them. I should try to locate
them in the Overworld as soon as possible. It’s my
quest, after all.
I have a question, I said.
The endermage turned to me.What is it, Eeebs?
Well, you said that I should head to the capital city
rst. But I’m supposed to meet up with that villager, right?
What if he’s not in the capital?
Hmm. Batwing, do you recall seeing any buildings
when using the tellstone?”
A few times,” the skeleton said. Runt had a nightmare,
once. His village had been overrun.
So, he is in a village, then?
I believe so.
Did you see any buildings made of quartz or clay?
None. Wood and cobblestone, mostly. There was a
wall in the distance. Their village was surrounded by a
huge cobblestone wall.
Interesting.The endermage closed his eyes for a
moment. That sounds more like a town, not a village. You’re
sure they were villagers?
Hey, I’m sure, Batwing said. Both Runt and Pebble
had shaved heads and huge noses, while that girl had
super long hair and a little nose. Sound like villagers
to you, bud?
Certainly. I’ve just never heard of a village with a
wall before.
Maybe they’re smarter than the average villagers?
Maybe. Hmm.The enderman closed his eyes again.
Warriors, you said. Training to be warriors. Why does
that remind me of something?
Same here, Batwing said. Wait a second. I thought there
was a village in the east like that? Real serious folk.
Kids start training for combat at the age of six.
That almost sounds like Shadowbrook,the
enderman said. A village of proud warriors. Hmm. Batwing,
join me in my library. We have much research to do.”
The enderman turned to me. “I’ll give you your answer
soon, Eeebs. For now, rest. Spend time with your friends.
After today, you won’t have much time for
either.
After wandering around the streets, I finally found Rarg.
He was in the center of the city, at the edge of the lava pool,
staring o into space.
Hey, Rarg.”
Hi-lo. Me friend. Me again want say. Thank.
No problem. Somehow I just knew you were a good guy.
I’m glad you joined us.
Me too. Boss man crazy. But boss man now-
now no boss man me. Now-now boss man me tall gray
blink man. Tall gray blink man no angry-say make me
black flying squeaky thing.”
Um
What’s he talking about?
Oh. He’s saying EnderStar is
no longer his boss.
He now takes orders from the endermage. He doesn’t mind,
because Greyfellow doesn’t threaten
to
turn him
into
a bat.
I’m guessing
“angry-say”
means
yell?
And
“blink”
must mean
teleport.
What’s
“now-now,”
though? Why is it
repeated?!
Why do zombie pigmen talk so strangely?!
Yes,I said. Tall gray blink man no angry-say
you. But angry-say me, me no know breathe fire. But. Tall
gray blink man happy man. Most time.”
He smart also.”
Yes.”
You. Name. Eee bu?
Eeebs,I said.
Eee buzz.
Close enough.”
Eeebuzz? Me want know.”
He wants to ask me a question? Hmm, I’m getting better
at this.
You what want know? I asked.
You go? You go where-where?
I go big light. I pointed at the cavernous
ceiling far above.Big blue. Yellow square. You know?
Me know. Me no like big blue. Big blue scare me.
And me eyes hurt me look big yellow square thing.
Eeebuzz? Me also want know.”
Yeah?
You. No feel real?
What you say me no feel real?
No know. No know. Me no know how say.
What you say you no know how say? Me no know.
Me think some time me no real. No know how say.
But me no-no feel real. You?
He’s saying he doesn’t feel real? What does he mean by
that? Actually, sometimes, I kind of get that feeling.… I just
assumed it’s from all the stress lately?
Some time,I said. “Yes. Me also no-no feel real.”
Why you me no-no feel real?
Me no know.
Me also no know.
Rarg held up a sh. I’d never seen that kind of sh before.
It was dark red in color.
Me use wood string thing,” he said. “Me know
how use wood string thing. Wood string thing get red
swim-swim. You want eat?
Me no want eat. Me eat, you no eat.
No. Me many red swim-swim.
Okay.
He handed me the red fish, and I bit into it. It was the
best fish I’d ever tasted.
He then pulled another red fish from his inventory and
ate it in seconds. He grinned.Hee hee! You like?
Its delicious,I said, taking another bite.
Delishi … ?
A blank look, until I claried:Me think red swim-swim
yum-yum.
Wait a second. Where exactly did he get a fish like that?!
There’s no water in the Nether!
Rarg. Where you get red swim-swim huh?
He pointed to the lava pool. “There-there. Orange re
water.
Seriously? He caught a fish in the lava?! There’s such a
thing as lava fish?!
How you get? Can show me wood string thing now-
now huh?
Okay.
He pulled a strange-looking item from his inventory.
It appeared to be a stick with some spider string
attached. At the end of the string was something I didn’t
recognize.
You want try? I try now-now. You see me try.
Okay?
Okay.
For the next hour or so, Rarg showed me how tosh. As
a cat, we usually just dived into the water, but this wood
string thing made things way easier.
Still, using that tool was difficult for me at first, as I had
to stand up on my hind legs. Standing was something I
still needed to practice.
And Rarg wasn’t lying. I eventually caught a lava
sh of my own, to my complete surprise.
I’d originally wanted to find Rarg to see whether maybe
Batwing had been right about him being a spy. But as we
sat down at the edge of the pool, eating lava sh in
silence, I knew that he was just as innocent as me—
another little piece in what at times felt like some kind of
weird game.
I curled up next to my friends on the pink carpeting of the
endermage’s house.
Still, I couldn’t sleep. I just kept thinking and thinking
and thinking. About the upcoming war. About my abilities.
About my quest. Plus I could hear Greyfellow and
Batwing chatting, although I couldn’t make out what
they were saying.
They were in the secret chamber, I guess.
At last, I crept over to Greyfellow's huge bookshelf
and glanced at a few books on the very bottom. This section
was labeled junk.” When I grabbed several of the books, I
quickly understood why.
I’m not sure why, but I decided to check out
Diary of a
Minecraft Grass Block.
There was an introduction, and it
read:
There was once a Minecraft grass block named
Minecraft Grass Block. Minecraft Grass Block liked doing
the things most Minecraft grass block children did.
Minecraft Grass Block wanted to learn how to be a better
Minecraft grass block, but how would Minecraft Grass
Block become a better Minecraft grass block than the
other Minecraft grass blocks who hoped to become
better Minecraft grass blocks, or at least better Minecraft
grass blocks than Minecraft Grass Block was at being a
Minecraft grass block and hopefully even the best
Minecraft grass blocks a Minecraft grass block could
possibly become?
Just turn the page, and follow the adventures of
Minecraft Grass Block in this Minecraft Grass Block Diary
of a twelve-year-old Minecraft grass block named
Minecraft Grass Block, a Minecraft grass block boy who
hopes to become a true Minecraft grass block or at least
a better Minecraft grass block than the other Minecraft
grass blocks.
Wow.
I had no trouble
sleeping afterward.
This morning, I said my goodbyes. To Tufty and Meowz. To
Clyde, Greyfellow, and Batwing.
Greyfellow gave me more Disguise potions and
an item called a compass.
Remember, you’ll want to keep heading east.
Batwing gave me a tellstone. “Maybe you’ll be able to
reach them at some point. Who knows?
Clyde was crying, Meowz was about to join him, and Tufty
was trying his hardest to be brave:Gonna miss you,
man. Stay safe, all right?
You know me.”
Goodbye, Eeebs,Clyde said. “Thanks for nding me.
Thanks for saving my life.
Come back soon, all right?
I will.
And that was it. The endermage took me to the edge of
the city, where he’d built a nether portal.
I will be traveling to the Overworld as well, he said.
Yet, I won’t be joining you. I’ll be traveling to the capital,
Aetheria City. If you should journey there, ask
around for the Library. I’ll be conducting my research
there.
I nodded.
Now, do you remember what you must do? he
asked.
After I arrive in the Overworld,” I said, “I must head east
and find the village of Shadowbrook. It lies on the
east coast of the main continent. If instead I reach the
ocean, I should head north until I find it.”
Good. What will you do if you find this village?
I’ll ask to see a girl named Breeze,I said.
Who else?
Runt. Pebble.
Good. And what will you do if you cannot locate
them?
I’ll head west, to Aetheria City, and find you.
And if you do come across them?
I will tell them they need to abandon their village, I
said, “and seek refuge in the capital.”
Why?
I crept forward, trying to recall what he’d told me earlier.
Because according to the Prophecy, a dragon is
going to burn it to the ground.”
Excellent. It seems your Higher Intelligence
ability really does work.”
…”
I remembered the first time I’d stepped into a nether
portal. The uncertainty I’d felt, then. The fear. The
hesitation.
Now, it was much like that, only ten times worse.
I was afraid of what I’d see and what I might have to face.
At last, I stepped in.
My vision wavered.
All grew dark.
As soon as I arrived in the Overworld, I began sprinting.
At first, everything looked normal. Trees. Tall grass.
Hills and mountains, rivers and valleys.
Within hours,
I found a village
or what looked like one to me.…
I sniffed around every building.
Not picking up any villager scent,
I thought.
Whatever
happened here must have happened days or even weeks
ago.
Yet, within minutes, I caught two new scents. One was
human, the other villager. I soon heard them
approaching so I hid in some tall grass nearby.
(My Creep ability must have turned me mostly invisible, as
they didn’t seem to notice me.)
The human had spiked yellow hair and brown armor,
and he carried a sword on his back. The villager had a
huge nose and carried two swords on his back, one
sword slightly smaller than the other.
I cant believe this,the villager said. It’s just like
the last one I saw.”
Get used to it,the human said. “Every place I’ve
come across has been like this. Or worse.
The villager suddenly seemed so angry. His rage
quickly subsided, however, and he gazed at the ruins in
sorrow.
Cmon, the human said. Let’s look around and see if
there’s anything we can salvage. And stay alert. You
wouldn’t believe the stuff that’s out here.
I’d believe. I’ve fought a few myself.”
Really? Hey. Why are you out here, anyway?
I was exiled.
What’d you do?”
I made a wrong decision.It’s a long story.”
They at least gave you a weapon or something, right?
Some tools?
None. I’d dropped all my stuff earlier. That rst night, I
was jumped by ten husks while trying to dig an
emergency shelter.
Ouch. Did you even have a sword at that point?
No. Just a wooden shovel.
You fought ten husks with a wooden shovel? How’d you
manage that?
I just managed.” The villager paused.Why are you out
here?”
Because of this.The human withdrew a piece
of paper from his inventory. Found it in some ruins a few
days ago. In a library. It leads to a cave filled with
adamant.
What’s adamant?
The human sighed. “I think you’ve been holed up in that
village of yours for way too long. Maybe getting exiled
wasn’t such a bad thing, huh? Anyway, Ill show you the
ropes. Just stick with me. He drew his sword.
Cmon. That cave isn’t too far from here. We’ll search
this place rst then hit the cave afterward.”
All right,” the villager said. By the way, you never told
me your name.
Just call me S,the human said.
S? That’s it?
Well, I know my name starts with an S. I can’t seem to
remember the rest, though. Anyway, let’s go.
They took off.
Of course, I wanted to reveal myself and speak with
them, but they looked a little dangerous.
Once they were far enough away, I took out my
compass and left the ruins, heading east again. For the rest
of the day, the only thing I found of interest was re. A
forest fire.
In my dreams, I heard voices.
The voices of two girls.
Dude. Scouting is totally lame. Nothing has happened for
days!”
“It’s what we’ve been tasked with, Emerald. It’s for the
safety of
our village.”
“Yeah. I know. I just miss hot baths, y’know? I’m totally
caked in grime, these new boots are hurting my feet, and—
hey, look! Over there!”
“Is that an ocelot?”
Looks like it. What’s up with the blur fur, though?"
“What were you saying about nothing interesting
happening?”
“I stand corrected. This is even more interesting than that
human girl showing up at our village. What’s her name
again?”
“ilovedragons1. Why do some of the humans have such
odd names?”
“Who knows. Hey, why isn’t this ocelot waking up?!”
Finally, as I felt something nudge me, my eyes ew
open.
He’s adorable!the girl with greenish-blue hair
exclaimed.
Is that even an ocelot?the other girl asked. Looks more
like a monster to me.
Whatever he is, I say we keep him.
Keep him?! Are you joking?! I thought you
didn’t like monsters, Breeze.
Wouldn’t a monster be attacking us by now?
Yeah, I guess.
Its strange, though. I thought ocelots were afraid of
people? Has he already been tamed?It took a moment for
the realization to hit.
Breeze?! The girl on the left is Breeze?! Is that some
kind of luck or what?!
I rose to all fours and yawned.You don’t need to talk as
if I can’t understand you. I’m well versed in your
language.
The girls jumped back.Um, like, did he just
You can really talk? Breeze asked.
Yeah?
Why do I feel things are about to get crazy around
here again?Emerald said.
I’ve been sent to nd a girl named Breeze, I said.
Also, two boys. One goes by the name of Runt. The
other is known as Pebble.
The girls exchanged glances.
I don’t understand,” Breeze said. How do you know
about us?
Through our mutual friend. Batwing.
Her smile faded.
Emerald sighed. “Um, is he talking about that skeleton
you’ve been dreaming about?
Yes.”
Right. Shall we head back now and warn the mayor of
impending craziness the likes of which we’ve never
seen?
Breeze slowly nodded at her, before staring into my
eyes.What’s your name?”
Eeebs.
Nice to meet you, Eeebs. May I ask why you were
sent to nd us?”
Its a long story.
That’sne. Would you like to head back to our village
with us? You can tell us on the way.”
Of course,I said. Oh, and now that you mention
it, I should say that I’ve been instructed to inform you of
something. Regarding your village.
The girls exchanged glances again. What is it?Breeze
asked.
All of you should leave before the moon is full,I
said, “and head to the capital, as according to the
Prophecy … your village is about to be
annihilated.
While searching for the village of Shadowbrook, I met two girls named Emerald and Breeze.
I told them about how I was sent to find them and how, according to the Prophecy, their
village would soon be destroyed.
Come to find out, I was never going to find Shadowbrook. It was Breeze’s home village, and it
was completely wiped out some time ago. She’s one of the survivors who fled.
Wait, I said. “Where are you taking me, then?”
Villagetown. We believe it’s the last village still standing on this side of the continent.”
Well, the humans say it’s not really a village, Emerald said, “but a town. And maybe they’re
right, y’know? It’s changed so much.
It has. Breeze turned away. We were standing on a large hill overlooking a river, and she pointed at
something far away. I’d never seen anything like it before.
Is that some kind of tree?” I asked.
Breeze shook her head.It’s one of our watchtowers. It also functions as a beacon. Our
builders constructed them around our village to help the scouts find their way back.
All we have to do is head in that direction and we’ll be home, Emerald said.Max came up with the
idea. A friend of ours. Actually, I guess Runt should get some credit for—”
I almost jumped when she said his name. “You know Runt?!
Of course, Emerald said. “He’s part of our group. In fact, he should be with us right now.
Why isn’t he?”
He’s currently being punished.To my blank expression, Emerald sighed.We recently graduated
from school, and the mayor gave us one last little school assignment. We had to write twenty
pages about our chosen profession. Now, I love my village and all, and I have absolutely zero
regrets about becoming a warrior, but dude … c’mon. Who wants to write twenty pages about
anything? Luckily, Runt thought of a way for us to avoid writing so much without breaking the
rules, and every other student copied Runt’s idea. Needless to say, the mayor wasn’t too thrilled
about that. Guess that’s why Runt is back to crafting potato-based food items.
Resisting the urge to ask,
Whats a potato?
I nodded.Hmm. Do you think I’ll be able to speak
with him?”
Probably, Emerald said. “That is, if the entire village doesn’t freak out upon hearing the bad news.
By the way, what kind of dragon is supposed to attack?”
I have no idea. I don’t even know what a dragon is.
After the girls took me to their village, I was surrounded by so many people. No one seemed to be
afraid of me—not even the children:
Is that really an ocelot?
It looks more like a monster!
Wow! Where can I get one of those?!”
Thanks for the fish,I said, to a human boy named LazyGiraffe.An hour of sprinting can really
drain your food bar.
You can talk?!
Hey, what’s your name?!
What kind of ocelot are you, huh?!”
My introduction to Villagetown went pretty much like that.
A girl named Ophelia gave Breeze a hug.Glad to see you back safely. What’s the deal
with this guy?
It’s complicated,” Breeze said.
Emerald laughed. “I’ll say. Just wait until you hear the news. She turned to Ophelia.Hey. Your
dad’s a librarian, right? Ever heard about something called the Prophecy?
I havent. Why?
Never mind. Emerald glanced farther into the village. “I’m out. Time for a bath. See you guys at
the meeting?
Ophelia blinked.What meeting?
But Emerald only winked before taking off.
Um, okay? The yellow-haired girl turned to Breeze. “What’s going on?”
Seems like this kitten came from a city of monsters, Breeze said.Good ones. She reached
down and scratched my neck. “Isnt that right?
I don’t consider myself to be a monster,” I said,but yes. You are correct.
So, why are you here? Ophelia asked me.
Have you ever heard of someone known as a Savior?
No?
How about Chosen Ones?
Um …”
The other villagers looked just as confused.
Moments later, a man known as the mayor approached, along with many serious-looking men in
black clothes.
Breeze? What’s going on here?! Andwhat is that?!
We found him sleeping under a tree. He has a message for us.
Right.” The mayor stared at me without blinking for at least five seconds.Um. Good work.
One of the men in black robes threw something around my neckI’d later come to learn that it was
a leash.
I hissed and tried running away, but whenever I moved more than five blocks away from my
captor, I flew back toward him.
Breeze moved up to the man. “Father, stop!
He smiled slightly. His eyes were concealed by these weird-looking black things.You know
what must be done.
They hauled me away to a small, dark room and asked countless questions. The kind of questions
cautious people ask when a blue kitten suddenly shows up at their village.
Yes, its true. And their breath isnt nearly as stinky as yours.
I told them everything, but they didnt believe a word. No one had heard of the Prophecy,
and as for dragons
The Overworld hasn’t seen dragons for over a thousand years!” the man named Brio shouted.
One kind of dragon still lives on, yes, but only in the third dimension!
All I know is what I’ve been told! The enderman gave me this book, and
After I talked about the book Greyfellow had loaned me, Brio brought in more villagers. They wore
white robes.
I came to learn that they were librarians and had in-depth knowledge of this worlds history.
Yet, none of them could recall ever reading about the Prophecy.
What about these abilities you speak of? the mayor asked.Care to demonstrate them?”
Sure.
To their awe, I breathed fire, climbed a nearby cobblestone wall, and turned almost invisible when
standing still.
If there was a pool of lava nearby, I said, “I could go for a swim. Im immune to fire, just like
the monsters that live in the Nether.
Finally, I summoned my visual enchantment screen. Brio and the mayor recognized it
immediately. Amazingly, they had visual enchantments as well. They summoned them using
their mind, the same as I had.
Almost every living being has them,” Brio said. “Yet, most are unable to access them. They must
be unlocked.
The two villagers closed their screens, and the mayor looked at mine, which was currently displaying
my enhancements. “What’s that?
The enderman enchanted me somehow,” I said, and held up my purple claws.
Did he ask you to step into a metallic box of some kind? Brio asked.
You mean a rune chamber?
Yes. Brio turned to the mayor. “Perhaps he speaks the truth?
The mayor nodded. “ListenEeebs, is it? I’m going to call everyone in the village. We’re going to have
a meeting.
You’ll need to tell everyone what you’ve told us just now,” Brio added. For some reason, he was
smiling again in that strange way. “I suppose we’ll soon be making yet another alliance.
The man named Drill spoke up.Tell me this creature is joining our army. Please. I want this thing
on the front lines.
Perhaps he will. Brio stopped smiling. “One last thing, kitten. Did that book mention the names of
the two Saviors?
Yes. But I forgot them. The enderman asked me to remember so many different things. The book
said that one of them was a human. Does that help?
Not exactly.
An hour later, I stood in a fancy-looking area of Villagetown. A countless number of villagers had
gathered before me.
Wait, no. Roughly half of them werent villagers. They looked different wore different
clothes. Perhaps they were the humans I’d heard about?
(Now that I think about it, Ive seen villagers several times before, back when I was just a normal
kitten, but I dont recall ever seeing humans until today. Whered they come from?)
The mayor eventually introduced me and asked me to tell everyone the news.
I suppose it was strange for them to hear an animal speak.
Stranger still to hear me speak of a city filled with monsters willing to cooperate.
The monsters I met know about magic, I said. “They’re very smart. I believe both sides could
help each other.
Of course, there were many who didn’t believe or trust me. Such as a young man who emerged
from the crowd. A human, I think? He looked up at the mayor and called out:
When I saw him, I could sense that there was something different about him. It was the same
feeling I got after meeting Greyfellow, Batwing, Brio, Breeze, Emerald.
Still, he was different from even them. Stronger, maybe? Was the power I sensed due to him
being higher in level and possessing stronger abilities than the rest? I’m not sure.
You certainly have a point, the mayor said to this human. “We will discuss this at length and have
a vote.
This caused a huge commotion. The crowd only grew louder when the mayor added: “Although
it’s hard to imagine, there may come a time when monsters live among us an—
An old villager man glared at me and shouted, “The day I live alongside monsters is the day I make
my own village! I know how to dig! I’ll make an underground house and start a bat farm!
More villagers joined in:
I’m with you, Leaf!
Me too! This is madness!”
No one’s even heard of this Prophecy!
If a dragon really does attack, well be ready! We’ve already fended off thousands of
zombies!
Working with monsters?! How can anyone suggest such a thing?! Do you not remember the
attacks?!”
No mobs allowed!” someone screamed.
Yeah! No mobs allowed!
Roughly half of the crowd began chanting this phrase. Then someone threw a carrot at me. This
was followed by some seeds, an apple, and, finally, a loaf of bread.
(I ate the bread, topping off my food bar, so the joke was on them.)
Stop this at once! the mayor shouted. “We cannot ignore what this animal has to say! If
there really are good monsters out there, we must consider forming an alliance!
He left the raised platform and stood next to me.Even though he is an animal, he appears to be
quite intelligent, and he will be treated with respect for as long as he stays here! Understood?
There were many grumbles, weak attempts at protest. But just as many people walked up to me.
Including Breeze.
I’d like to take him around and teach him more about our village, she said to the mayor.Is that
okay?
Only if Eeebs agrees to it.” He sighed. Kitten, I’m sorry for their outburst. We’re a little
distrustful of monsters. That being said, do you really wish to stay here for the time being?”
Why not? I like being held.
Very well. In the meantime, our librarians will do more research. We’ll see if we can shed some light
upon this mysterious Prophecy you speak of. And you’ll be able to speak with Runt after he’s …
through with his punishment.”
Thank you. I suddenly remembered the human’s words. “Sir.
I’m exhausted,” Breeze said to her father.I’ll take him back to our house and show him
Villagetown tomorrow.
As she turned around, holding me in her arms, she bumped into another person. A villager in a
dark red robe. A bunch of white hair hung from the lower part of his face, and he was wearing a
huge red hat and the same black things Breeze’s father wore. You couldn’t see much of his face.
Sorry,” he said. “Forgive me, my lady.
She stepped closer to him.Hey, dont I know you?
N-no, no. I … no, I don’t believe weve met before. Yes, certainly Id remember a damsel such as
yourself!”
What’s your name?
My name? He paused.Korbius!” He nodded profusely.Yes, that’s my name! Korbius
Wijjibo!
I don’t recall ever seeing you in Villagetown before.
Of course not, for I ama traveling merchant! Yes! A merchant who travels! That’s
meeee! He bowed. “Would you like to trade?
No thanks. Breeze lingered in front of him for a moment, her brow furrowed, then carried me off.
It was strange, the way she acted.
What’s wrong?I asked, still purring.
Nothing.” She glanced back at him.Guess I’m just paranoid.
When we entered Breeze’s house, I was shocked at how small it seemed. Compared to Greyfellow’s hut, it
was tiny. Her bedroom was five blocks wide.
I sat down on the carpet. “Is it really so hard to believe that good monsters exist?
We’ve been through a lot, she said. “Monsters attacked several times already, and some of us were
wellwe’ve lost people.
Im sorry. Then I guess I can understand why they’re so distrustful.
I sniffed around and saw a book lying on top of a raised flat surface. It was a diary, just like
mine.
Where did she learn how to
draw
like that? Im so
jealous.
She rushed over and closed the diary before I had a chance to really look at the drawing. Her
cheeks were so red!
That’s Runt, right?
Yes. You’ve … seen him before, haven’t you?”
Yeah. Using one of these. I withdrew the tellstone from my inventory and told her about it.
That explains a lot, she said. “I was beginning to think Herobrine was behind those dreams.
Maybe we could use this tonight to speak with Runt?”
Maybe. Batwing said his tellstone didn’t always work, though. Tellstones should be able to
communicate with anyone, sleeping or not. But they’re hard to craft. The enderman is still
working on perfecting them.
Well, if it doesn’t work, you can always speak to Runt in person. He’ll be free in a few days.
Do they always punish him like that?
No, it’s just … he’s a captain, now. A leader. Kind of. So the mayor wants him to set a good
example. A lot of the younger kids look up to him now.
Oh.
Later that night, we tried using the tellstone.
I pictured Runt in my mind, but nothing appeared. Then, for some reason, I thought of that villager
I’d seen yesterday. The crystal immediately lit up:
The images disappeared. The purple gleam returned to the crystal’s surface. I pawed the tellstone
every which way, but the images wouldnt return.
(Im not positive on this, but I believe he was having a
nightmare
and woke up, which
severed
the
tellstones connection.)
That was Pebble, Breeze said. “So did we just witness his dreams or something?
I think so.”
Didn’t think he was still alive.
He is,” I said. “I saw him yesterday. Before I met you.”
Where?
In some ruins. He was with a human. They were searching around for a cave.
So, he really did survive. She said something after this, but so quietly, as if speaking to herself.
He must have learned how to use abilities, too.
Well, I think thats what she said.
Or did I just imagine her saying that?
Breeze gave me a tour of the village today.
While we walked through the streets, I noticed these large pieces of paper called “posters. They
were everywhere. Someone must have put them up last night.
Seems like at least a few people havent forgotten the meeting, I said.
It was hard enough getting everyone to agree to let humans stay here. I’m not so sure we’ll ever
be able to form an alliance with monsters.
Well, we’ve got to try. They’re really so nice. Youd like them.
We soon forgot about the posters, because a villager in white robes ran up to us.
Max. He’s a warrior like Breeze, but he once had interest in becoming a librarian.
I’ve read nearly every book in the village,” he said, “and found nothing relating to the
Prophecy. However …
He held up a book
(History of Minecraftia, Volume II)
and turned to somewhere in the middle.
Look. Someone tore out three pages.
Breeze ran her fingers across the jagged edges.Why would they do that?
Max shrugged.Maybe it said something about the Prophecy? But who would want to hide that?
The mayor?
No, I don’t think so, Breeze said. “Wait. Where did you get this book?”
The main library. I’ll go there again tomorrow and double-check for any other books that might
have been tampered with. Wanna join me?
Sorry. Today’s my only day off this week, and I’m supposed to show Eeebs around.
It’s cool. Emerald’s off tomorrow. I’ll ask her. He glanced at me. “Really wish you could’ve brought
that book you were talking about.”
I could always go back for it, I said.
You might have to,Max said, “if nothing turns up.
Max then took off, and Breeze showed me so many different places.
It almost felt like someone was watching us. But I didn’t see anyone.… One street had something
really weird. A villager did something known as a farming fail.”
Hours later, as Breeze explained the combat cave to me, that Drill guy ran up to us.
He screamed so loudly, asking Breeze if she was done accompanying “His Royal Fuzziness
around. Was he talking about me?!
You want a little tour of our village, huh?” He pointed down a street. “See all those people building
and farming!? That’s called hard work! You’ll be joining them if you wanna stay here! Now
march!
Drill thinks I need to be trained. Long story short, I’ve been asked to help out. If I want to stay here,
I must become a useful member of the village.
They seem to think I’d make a great scout. That means exploring beyond the wall. But scouts
should know all the basics, such as mining, crafting, and farming.It’s dangerous, being
a scout. They say the monsters outside are growing stronger. It’s an important job, too, because scouts
are supposed to search for resources like iron.
It seems that iron is really important to these villagers. They use it to make weapons, armor, tools,
and even defenses such as doors and gates. The problem is that iron comes from the ground, and
they’ve already mined most of the ground beneath the village. They say they dont want to go any
deeper because it’s too dangerous.
Food is also a concern. A large number of humans arrived some time ago. The farms here can
produce only so much food. Right now, people are consuming more than can be grown. So they
need to make more farms. They’ve used up almost all the land within the walls, though, which means
they must start farming outside.
As we followed Drill through the streets, he kept yelling at random villagers, telling them to build
faster, work harder:
You’re lollygagging like Stump in a kitchen! Like Runt at the ice cream stand! Like Emerald in the
Clothing Castle!” In a much calmer voice, he said, “In fact, I bet that’s where I’ll find her. Come on,
kitten. Let’s go say hello to your new teacher.
I saw Brio and the mayor at one point. They were yelling at workers as well. The word “efficiency”
was often brought up.
Efcient use of space. Proper building techniques. What are they talking about?! I dont even know
what a crop is!
Later on, Drill took us to this place called the Clothing Castle. Apparently, Emerald really does spend
a lot of time there.
How did I know I’d find you here?” Drill said.
Emerald glanced sideways to the left and right without moving her head.Oh! Are you talking to
me? Need some fashion advice, huh?”
Hardly. Since Breeze will be scouting tomorrow, and since you’re off tomorrow, you’ll be the
first one to teach this kitten. Help him get up to speed. Show him how to farm.
What? But I was supposed to go fishing and—”
What’s that? You said you’re ready to do five thousand laps around the combat yard?
She flashed a smile. A nervous one. “Did I say fishing?! It’s been a long day! What I meant was
I’d be honored to teach Eeebs! Where should I begin?
Emerald taught me how to farm today.
I personally think it went very well, but she seems to think otherwise.
Hey, it’s not my fault. Her instructions weren’t very clear to me. As if a kitten would know
anything about planting seeds!
Dude! Don’t be in such a rush! You need to place seeds in farmland!
She took me to a grassy area where she demonstrated how to use this farming tool called a
“hoe.
Standing on my hind legs again, I turned three blocks of grass into farmland and planted some
seeds. I felt so proud of myself. She didnt, though.
Farmland should be close together, she said. “There’s no need to have it all scattered around
like that.”
Right.
Dude? Where’s the water? You really need to listen!
She told me again about how crops need to be watered, or irrigated. Otherwise, they won’t grow
nearly as fast.
I did pretty well, all things considered. She gave me a bucket, and I scooped up some
water. I just forgot about the “digging a hole for the water” part.
A minor setback, nothing more!
I’ve seen a lot of farming fails, but wow. Just wow.
Isn’t diversity a good thing, though?”
All right, Ive got this farming stuff gured out. BRB, time to ace the rest and become the ultimate
farming champion.
Come on! Crops need light to grow! You can’t just build a wall around them!
Okay! Okay! I’m sorry! I just want to talk to Runt, okay? It’s part of my quest! I can’t stop
thinking about it!
Yeah? Do you have any idea what they’ll make us do if they catch us sneaking up to him? You’ll
see Runt when he’s no longer crafting baked potatoes, okay? Just follow the rules!
Fine!
Using a pickaxe, I began tearing down the wall.
Good kitten. Now, what you should do is build a fence. Here, I’ll place the crafting table again
and …”
For the first time today, Emerald smiled.Good job.
How about a hug, huh? Or you can just scratch my chin. I’m not picky.
I’ll pet you once were finished. Now listen up. Okay, so, crops need light, right? But what happens
when the sun goes down? How can you provide light for your crops during the night? Any ideas?
I think so.
Emerald facepalmed. “Were done for the day. And tomorrow, Stump will be teaching you how
to craft, not me.
Okay. By the way, where’s my hug?
As if! Hurmmph!
Emerald stormed off. Later, a nice girl named Lola taught me how to shoot this weapon called a
“bow.
The other villagers say she used to be very unskilled, but she’s recently shown promise. She
also crafted a hat out of a creeper she dropped in the wild.
Nessa “Lola” Diamondcube
from Noob Extraordinaire to Scout First Class.
This morning, I met the villager known as Stump. One of Runt’s best friends.
He wasn’t too happy about having to teach me on his day off. Part of the problem was that I kept
eating the crafting ingredients.
He called me a walking garbage can, because according to him, it’s not even possible to eat some
of those ingredients. Our time together can be summarized by a single picture:
(Id include pictures of my various crafting fails, but at this point, Ive become somewhat embarrassed
of my complete lack of skill.)
I guess Stump takes his crafting seriously—especially food items like cakes—so when I basically
decorated the floor with ingredients, his anger only grew.
Luckily, Max interrupted us before long. He just burst through the door, muttering something
about books and libraries and the biggest mystery the village has ever seen.
Seconds later,
we were out the door.
Max took us to one of Villagetown’s libraries—the biggest one in the village.
I’ve been doing a lot of research here, he said, leading us past the bookshelves. “I found a book
with missing pages in one of the back rooms.… But I didn’t notice the carpet until this morning,”
he said.
Stump glanced around. Whats wrong with it? Besides that awful orange color, I mean.
Seriously, who decorated this place?
Max walked farther into the room, then stopped.Come over here.
We followed. As an animal who’d only just learned how to farm, I had no idea what was going
on. But then, I didn't feel too bad, because Stump didn’t seem to understand either.
Max pointed at the floor.
Carpeting made from a sheeps wool and dyed bright orange.
That should have been nothing more than a decoration, something placed over cobblestone.
Feels a little soft, Stump said, stepping on to one section of the carpet.Spongey, really. Almost
like a cake. What, is there nothing underneath?
Max mined the carpet up with his bare hands.
Max thinks it’s been here for a very long time.
What sat inside were more bookcases, a chest filled with all kinds of papers and scrolls … and a
massive tome, lying on a table.
Although it looked like nothing more than a large book with a dark gray cover, there was
something about it—the more I stared, the more I sensed the power it contained.
Max lifted the tome up in a way that suggested an immense weight. Record of Aetheria was
its name. “It just goes on and on. It’s over five hundred pages long.
Five hundred pages?!” Stump moved closer and eyed it suspiciously. Of what?
The history of the world. The Prophecy, too. And guess who’s name is in here?
Breeze?
No. Kolb.
I zoomed over to take a better look at the tome. “He’s one of the Saviors, right?
Apparently. I’m wondering why he never told us?
Maybe he doesn’t know?” Stump said.
Max shrugged.It gets weirder. One of the things I’ve read we’re supposedly controlled by some
kind of guiding force called AI.
I’ve heard that before, I said.
Max turned to the first page. “There’s also this.
Whoever wrote this clearly didn’t want Herobrine reading it, Stump said. “That must be why it
was stashed here. But who wrote it?”
Max turned to the next page.
We have to ask Kolb about this,” Stump said. “He has to know something.
Max nodded. “I’ll go see if I can find him. You two wait here. And Eeebs? Wipe that sugar off your
nose. Seriously, man. Are you a kitten or a pig?
Ten or so minutes later, Kolb entered the cramped little room.
There’d better be a good reason for bringing me down here, he said.I really— He paused when
he saw me. Oh. So it’s about that. How many have you told, kitten?
No one. I couldn’t remember your name.”
So you already know? Max asked.
Yeah.
Can you please just tell us what’s going on?” Stump asked.
The human sat down on a bookcase. “I can tell you what I know. Of course, for the safety of
your village, you must promise never to tell anyone else. Not even the mayor. Agreed?
Two villagers and a kitten nodded their heads in unison.
Kolb sighed. “You know, I used to laugh at myself for talking with what I once considered to be
NPCs. But now … whatever. Here it goes.
And so, he told us his story.
The human named Kolb once lived in a world known as Earth.
His life was fairly boring back then. He went to school, did homework, studied. He also played
games.
The games he played utilized a technology known as virtual reality. You threw on a helmet-
like device, and it seemed like you were in another world.
His mom was always working, and he’d never known his father, so he often escaped into games to
not feel so alone. His favorite place was a virtual reality Minecraft server called Aetheria.
That world is this world. Or used to be.
Max didn’t seem to believe him. “You’re telling me … we’re just game characters?
I don’t know, Kolb said. “We still dont know for sure. We’ve had countless arguments over this,
trying to figure it all out.
Well, what happened?” Stump asked. You said this game you played was normal, right? Everyone
played it. So what changed? Why are all the humans always freaking out?
Umm it’s like this.…”
The human then shared more of his story.
It was the year 2039, and his world was in a similar situation as our own: suffering from a
terrible war. One day, weapons capable of unparalleled destruction were sent through the air,
toward his homeland. When this was announced, he was alone.
In the eyes of many, the world was about to end. So Kolb, wanting to at least see his friends one
last time, entered the virtual reality world of Aetheria. To say goodbye.
There, he met his best friend, Ione, as well as one of the game’s administrators, Entity.
However …
With the world’s destruction just minutes away …
I blacked out and woke up still in the game,” he said,unable to log out. We call it the
event. Many of us think there’s a scientific explanation for what happened. Yet, just as many
believe in the impossible.
Max looked up from the massive tome. “You mean magic?
Yeah. I guess so. I’ve never believed in that kind of stuff. Still don’t. Yet some humans think
Entity is a wizard who whisked them away to safety just before the world ended.”
So that’s why you guys have those arguments, Stump said. “Some of you call yourselves
Believers, and others are Seekers. I never understood why until now.
If we really are game characters, Max said,does that mean were not really alive? We’re just
like … golems, or something? Following instructions of some kind?
The human shrugged. We’ve spent days discussing that. In the end, each of you seems very real, so
it really is like the game magically came to life. He sighed. Look, guys. I’m just telling you what I
know, and what I know isn’t much. It took me a long time to come to terms with this. But Ive finally
accepted it. It is what it is.
I don’t meant to interrupt, I said,but Im starving. Maybe we could talk more over dinner?”
The other three looked at me as if I’d just asked if they wanted to help build a snow fort in the
Nether.
It’s not even lunchtime, Max said.
Oh. What can I say? I’ve been living in the Nether. Having no sky kinda messes with your sense of
time.
Stump retrieved a strange-looking item from his inventory and placed it on to one of the
bookcases. It had a familiar scent.…
I sniffed again. “What is that?!
A stormberry cake, Stump said. “My finest creation.
See, that’s what I dont get, Kolb said. “All this new stuff … it doesn’t make any sense.
What do you mean?” Stump asked.
Well
Kolb went on to explain that the game server, Aetheria, was drastically different from normal
Minecraft.
Minecraft had changed a lot since it was first createdthirty years and still going strong—
yet, the Aetheria server ran a mod, which further altered the game’s rules.
Stormberries were one of the countless new things the mod included. They grew on leaf blocks
arranged to resemble bushes. And these blue and yellow berries could be used to craft a variety of
different food items: stormberry cookies, stormberry tea, stormberry rolls and biscuits.…
But not cakes, he said. “That crafting recipe just wasn’t in the game’s code. Someone had
suggested it on the forums once, but Entity never programmed it in. Some of us figure that
whatever happened during the event not only trapped us inside but also somehow unlocked a beta
version of the server. A new update that Entity was working on.
You’ve lost me, Max said. “All right, forget all that. What about you being a Savior?
Kolb took a deep breath. “Entity added these things called quests. Like, you talk to a villager,
and the villager asks you to fetch him some lava or something. Boom, you’re on a quest. So you go
scoop up some lava in a bucket, give it to the villager, and he gives you a reward of some kind, and
the server rewards you with experience points, and the quest is complete. Right, anyway, um, I guess
I was given a special quest. Quests come in three different types. First, there’s your ordinary
quest. Simple ones like fetching a villager something. Then there are quest chains. You complete
one quest, it leads to another, which leads to another. Finally, you have quest trees. They’re more
complicated, nonlinear. Me being a Savior is all part of one big quest tree.
And what are you supposed to do? I asked.
I have to re-forge this.
He pulled out a sword from his inventory. Its blade seemed to be broken.
I recognize that metal, Max said. “That rainbow effect … that’s adamant, isn’t it?”
Yeah. This is Critbringer, one of the swords crafted by Entity thousands of years ago. He
gave it to me in-game before everything went black, said it was one of the most powerful
quest items ever made.
Stump didn’t seem too impressed:If it’s so powerful, why is it broken?
It’s just part of the lore. Entity wrote detailed history for the server. According to the story,
Herobrine tried to destroy the blade during the Second War. Now, seven fragments are
supposedly scattered across the world. Shards, they’re called. Upon finding one, I can forge it back into
the blade by re-crafting it. Each shard added will slightly upgrade the swords abilities. Damage and
on-hit effects, attack speed, all that. The problem is locating the pieces.
I saw one! I blurted out. “A few days ago. In the Nether.
I told him about Rarg and how he had taken EnderStar’s secret treasure horde.
The human listened intently. “I have to say, Ive been too preoccupied with the events here. Perhaps I’ll
pay them a little visit?
Max opened the huge tome again. “You mentioned something about Herobrine trying to destroy the
sword. Look. It’s all right here in this book.
That’s the lore. Kolb moved over and flipped through the pages.But it isn’t complete. The full
lore is over one thousand pages long. Entity wrote this stuff over two years ago. When he
became too busy with programming, he appointed several players as scribes to keep adding to
the story.”
But you said Entity crafted that sword thousands of years ago, Stump said.
Right. After the event, it’s almost like whatever was written down in the lore became reality
here.
(Um. Wow. Whenever I
level-up,
I really need to put more points into
Higher Intelligence,
because I
dont understand much of anything.)
As far as I can grasp:
There was a virtual reality game on Earth known as Minecraft.
The world was coming to an end, so Kolb retreated into the game to say goodbye to his friends.
As their final hour approached, the event took place—everyone in the game blacked out and woke
up here, and the game mysteriously came to life?
I glanced at the stormberry cake.Can I eat now?
Sure. Stump handed me a slice.Nothing better than home-crafted food.
After a cautious sniff, I ate the slice in a single bite—and promptly spit out crumbs. “Is … that
really … food?!
That was Stump’s tipping point. He was already in a bad mood after I devoured half a stack of
his sugar
(sugar he crafted using his moms special recipe, a family secret passed down through the
generations),
but insulting his crafting like that? It was almost as if he was a creeper in a villager
costume ready to explode.
This morning, a boy named Bumbi taught me how to build.
At least, I think.
My goal was to build a chicken house behind the school.
(I think its called a chicken coop, but
Bumbi kept saying chicken house.)
Then he stopped giving me oak blocks. Because he ran out.
(Is he really a teacher? Shouldnt a
teacher be more prepared?)
Luckily, he had some cobblestone.
When he ran out of that, he gave me some gravel. When he ran out of that, he gave me some
pumpkins.
Oak stairs are much better for roof building, he said. And when you run out of stairs, well …
you’d better use fence. Yeah, that’s it.
Oh, but wait! Every good chicken house needs a door, right?
Later on today, I caught up with Breeze again.
She could sense that something was wrong. She kept asking me what was on my mind.
And she knew that it was more than just that horrible building experience with Bumbi. She knew
it was something serious.
I wanted to tell her about what Id learned yesterday with Kolb, but I’d promised not to say
anything. Are we really living in a game? Am I just one of its characters?
If I really am just a so-called NPC, how am I able to think and feel … ?
And what about my memories? My past life? Endless days just being a playful kitten—are all of
those memories false?
I’m determined to learn more about my existence. I want to know who I am. What I am. There
must be a reason for all of this. For this world. For me.
And suddenly I recalled what Rarg had said to me. Sometimes, he doesn’t feel real. I feel the same
way when I’m tired or stressed out. Could it really be that I’m nothing more than … ?
It’s nothing, I said. “Just had a … bad day.
You sure?
Yeah.
As we wandered through the streets, I noticed that strange old man again. Korbius.
Breeze spotted him, too. It was pretty hard not to, honestly. He was just ten blocks away, hiding
behind some flowers.
Breeze swiftly moved up to the rosebushes. Why are you spying on us?”
The man stepped back, flustered.What? Me? Spying on you?! Why no, I was simply …
admiring these flowers! Yes! I love flowers! I’m a real connoisseur!
Oh? Then tell me: What color is owl’s eye?
Well, hmm I don’t believe I’ve ever heard of such a flower. Could it be that I’ve met someone more
knowledgeable about flowers than even myself? I find that hard to believe!
Just tell us why you keep following us, Breeze said. “I saw you at the school. The Clothing
Castle, too.
(Really? She must have fantastic eyesight, because I didnt see him then. Although I did get the feeling
that someone
was
watching us.)
Merely a coincidence, he said. “After all, I am a traveling merchant. I’m always moving
around!
Whatever. See you around.
When she said this, Korbius smiled and said,Oh, yes. I will be seeing you again. Count on
it.
Breeze stared at him for a moment, then turned to me. “Come on. Let’s go.
Whats with that guy? I asked. “Was he really following us?”
Yes. Listen, I need to go speak with my father. Maybe you can go have a rest now that your
training is complete. See you back at the house?
Okay.
By the way,she said, “my father agreed to let me adopt you.
Adopt? What is that?
It means my house is your house now.
Forever?
She smiled.Forever.
Last night, I had horrible nightmares.
I kept dreaming about what that human had said.
And Runt. When will I meet him? What will happen once I do?
I woke up in the middle of the night and tossed and turned on the carpet of Breeze’s room. She
was stirring in her bed, perhaps having nightmares as well.
I’m not sure why, but I tried using the tellstone again. When I did, a variety of images flashed
across the crystal’s surface, from many different people, in many different places.
Cube Kid is the pen name of Erik Gunnar Taylor, a writer who has lived in Alaska his whole life. A
big fan of video games—especially Minecraft—he discovered early that he also had a passion for writing
fan fiction. Cube Kid’s unofficial Minecraft fan fiction series,
Diary of a Wimpy Villager
, came out as e-
books in 2015 and immediately met with great success in the Minecraft community. They were published
in France by 404 éditions in paperback and now return in this same format to Cube Kid’s native country
under the title Diary of an 8-Bit Warrior. When not writing, Cube Kid likes to travel, putter with his car,
devour fan fiction, and play his favorite video game.